ipl-logo

Essay Comparing Rocking Horse Winner And Cathedral

898 Words4 Pages

Two short stories that are very interesting and different is "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "Cathedral." They are very distinguished with the themes of each short story. In "The Rocking Horse Winner" one of the many themes is obsession and a person can perceive that reading throughout the whole short story. In "Cathedral" one of the main themes is understanding and to see that a person has to read the whole story and see that in the end. The difference between the two short stories "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "Cathedral" " are the ideas of each of the stories are so disparate. In the "Rocking Horse Winner" obsession is such a big theme. So many of the characters in this short story shows that. Obsession is when a person is fixated on a certain thing and unhealthily devoted to it. In this short story there is the young boy named Paul. Paul has a special gift and that is to figure out who will be the upcoming winner of the …show more content…

In the story the narrator, who is also the husband, is very judgmental at first. He is this way because his wife's friend is coming to stay with them for a couple of days and her friend is a blind man named Robert. The husband never met this man, never the less a blind man. In the beginning he is stereotyping the blind man by saying, "My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind move slowly and never laughed" (Carver 456). Once Robert had arrived at his house he was still skeptical. They had little conversation here and there through the day, but it was mostly his wife and Robert. In the day they also mostly drank and talked until later in the evening the husband turned on the tv. The wife got mad, but then realized Robert had actually watched TV at home until he said, "My dear, I have two TV's. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic" (460). They realized after that just because he is blind doesn't mean he does not have a

Show More
Related
564 Words | 3 Pages

When first reading the story the narrator comes across as someone with a not so pleasant attitude. The narrator's wife and an old friend or hers named Robert; who is blind, have been communicating with each other for the past ten years. It's pretty obvious that the narrator is jealous of Robert. This is part of why the narrator has issues with blind people. “My idea of blindness came from the movies.

Read More
217 Words | 1 Pages

A mother is a person who loves and cares for their child unconditionally and will put her their needs before her own. When her child is sick, she will stay beside them no matter what. A mother is always there when someone is down and needs someone to talk to. However, in the stories, “The Rocking Horse Winner” and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,” both authors portray the mothers, Hester and Jane, somewhat similar when describing their relationship with their child. The stories’ definition of “Mother” are described in a negative manner that not many readers can relate to such neglectful behavior.

Read More
1001 Words | 5 Pages

So, Paul is convinced that by playing on his rocking horse will reveal to him the winning horse. The winning horse would be the horse that Paul would bet on and receive a sum of money. Which, he thought would make his mother happy but would only

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator had never meet a blind person before and believed in the stereotypes. The narrator said “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 331), in the last sentence of the first paragraph. For the narrator, there should be no problem letting a blind man into the house. Throughout this short story the husband continues to make short remarks to the old blind man, as well as keeping a routine for making comments to the blind man. For the reader it is really easy not to pay attention to the story and instantly get annoyed.

Read More
448 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator’s eyes are closed and he is being led by a blind man, yet he is able to see. Carver never explains what it is the narrator sees, but there is the sense that he has found a connection and is no longer detached or isolated. The narrator is faced with a stark realization and glimmer of hope. Hope for new views, new life and probably even new identity. Even the narrator’s wife is surprised by the fact that her husband and Robert really get along together.

Read More
431 Words | 2 Pages

From that moment, the narrator show his true side to me. It shows that he doesn’t not care about his wife feeling toward the blind man. After carefully reading “cathedral”, the narrator is jealous of the blind man relationship with his

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

Because of his narcissistic personality, the narrator views his wife as an object, while the blind man, Robert, treats her as a friend and a confidant. The narrator’s inability to feel emotion causes him to value his wife’s body more than her emotions, therefore, he becomes jealous when the blind

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

The main character speaks of the blind in a repugnant way. He says things such as “his being blind bothered me” and “a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” all within the first paragraph of the story. The author had included in the story that the husband had never met a blind person, so one could deduce that his negativity towards the blind was unfounded and ignorant. His wife, however, did not feel this way towards the blind man, Robert.

Read More
727 Words | 3 Pages

Carver highlights the narrator’s prejudice in the opening section of the story in order to reveal how the narrator’s bias against blind people in general leads to a preconceived negative opinion on Robert. From the outset, the narrator acknowledges his prejudice by mentioning that his “idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (Carver, 1). The narrator’s negative prejudice is not caused by knowing a blind man; rather, it is derived from an external factor, demonstrating how the narrator has formulated an opinion on people he has never met. Consequently, the narrator assumes that Robert will conform to the negative stereotype present in his mind, and is unpleased about Robert’s visit.

Read More
602 Words | 3 Pages

he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died” (Carver 84). This shows his attitude towards blind people by pointing out that Robert is blind, and not just an “old friend of [his] wife’s” (Carver 84). Carver develops the two main characters to completely contrast one and other both physically, and psychologically.

Read More
1358 Words | 6 Pages

The story revolves around three characters, a husband who is also referred to as Bub, his wife, and a blind man, Robert. The story begins with the wife reminiscing back at the times that she shared with Robert. She continues to talk about how much she enjoyed spending time with him. She talks about how she has kept in touch with him and how she has even written about Robert before. Even though the narrator doesn’t directly state to his wife, he happens to be “irritated” (Facknitz) by the fact his wife tends to have a connection with Robert.

Read More
965 Words | 4 Pages

The boy found a type of supernatural way to predict horse races’ winners with the aid of his rocking horse. But additional money did not make his family happier; mother’s pursuance of luxury only increased. Trying to fulfill them, Paul died during the prediction of his biggest win. While the plot looks like a sad fairy tale, it refers to many real issues of the modern

Read More
528 Words | 3 Pages

He takes note of the simple things, like the awkward silence at dinner, where “we ate everything there was to eat on the table,” (Carver 45), and how they “got up from the table and left the dirty plates,” (Carver 45). Nothing too exciting happens, aside the narrator, when he “asked if he wanted to smoke some dope with me,” (Carver 55). Carver creates a very relatable story that mainly showcases ordinary people doing ordinary things. Although seeming to be anticlimactic for the majority of the story, these dull moments lead to a very important event. Robert and the narrator sit on the couch after the wife has fallen asleep, watching TV, when a documentary about cathedrals comes on.

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

Robert literally can’t see, but he does obtain vision only on a deeper level. The narrator isn’t too enamored with the idea of another man coming to his home. He is insensitive and makes some harsh comments that make Robert feel a little uncomfortable. Due to his callous and unsympathetic personality, the narrator is never able to connect with his wife while Robert is instantly able to. Robert comes to visit the narrator and his wife at their home for the first time.

Read More
1482 Words | 6 Pages

However, Hester instead of giving Paul love she became greedier and cared about money more than loving her son. Paul started betting money on horse races with association with his uncle Oscar and the gardener Basset but it was kept secret to his mother. Paul had the ability of picking the winning horse at a race if he felt absolutely sure. He would get on his rocking horse and tried hard until he got to where he wanted to go, as if he actually was in the race riding the horse at the racetrack and returns from his trance-like state after completing the race with the name of the winning horse.

Read More

More about Essay Comparing Rocking Horse Winner And Cathedral

Related Topics

Open Document