Examples Of Epiphany In Cathedral

An epiphany is something that one finally comes to terms with and understands the meaning of a certain aspect in their life. Many come into contact with this term every day, sometimes more than once. When someone has an epiphany, they are all in a moment of shock, whether it be positive or negative. In one story, “Cathedral”, is about a man whose wife worked with a blind man before they married. The wife invited the blind man to stay at the couple’s home due to his wife passing. The husband, who is also the narrator of the story, is against the idea from the start. But as the story progresses, his views about the blind man and the blind in general changes. In the beginning of the story, the narrator clearly states, “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness

This is where the epiphany starts to arise. Throughout the whole story, the author, Raymond Carver, gave an organizational structure of how the narrator’s views on the blind changed as the fiction progressed. He first viewed them as helpless beings. But once he heard the man’s wife died he felt pity for the blind man would have never known what she had looked like. Once he was watching the documentary with the blind man, the narrator started to actually take an insight on how he views things. After the blind man asks the narrator to close his eyes before he started to draw, and once he was done the man asked, “Take a look. What do you think…Are you looking” (Para. 132) The narrator didn’t believe to open his eyes, so he kept them closed, “It’s really something.” (Para. 136) Since finally understanding the feel of the blind, the narrator only repercussion would be the guilt he would have for the original beliefs he had on them. The guilt would eventually ease away after a time, but the knowing of pre-judging someone before he actually gets to know them will never happen