Stereotyping In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

Sometimes in life, people will have to deal with other people that are judgmental and listen to stereo types when they know nothing about the person. In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, there are some examples of stereotyping. This story is about a woman who has a good friend of hers and he is blind. The blind man, whose wife had just recently died and was traveling to go visit his family, was stopping at the women’s house overnight. The blind man and the narrator’s wife knew each other. They met when she saw an ad in the newspaper asking for help, he wanted someone to read to him, a blind man. The blind man and the wife had become really good friends over the years. Once the wife stopped working for the blind man they started

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. People can understand the tone by reading what the narrator has to say about the blind man. The narrator explains to the wife that he really did not want a blind man at his house, and won’t know how to act with a blind man. Instead of giving the blind man a chance, he starts complaining. The narrator would make jokes like “what side of the train did you sit on” (Carver,133), not thinking the old man could answer, although he could. The narrator also would stereotype the blind man by saying to himself, “I thought glasses were a must for blind people” (Carver,133). The narrator said he remembered reading that blind people didn’t smoke, which is a stereotype. After reading a little more into the story you can figure out that the narrator didn’t have a name, readers knew

In order to understand it in a story you have to know what it means. Style is how the writer writes, and his choice of words. This story is different than most other stories because the narrator did not have a name. The readers did know who he was, but usually the narrators have a name. This short story is particularly short compared to most but it was a good story to help readers understand and identify tone and style. Readers can understand the elements by reading what the narrator has to say about the blind man. He is always complaining about him before the blind man even gets to his house. The narrator in the beginning did not give the blind man a chance before he started judging him. In a world full of negative things, people should give each other a chance to get to know one