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Imagery And Symbolism In Robert Carver's Cathedral

718 Words3 Pages

“Cathedral” The essay “Cathedral”, by Robert Carver, is about a man who is unsure of a blind gentleman named Robert that is coming to stay in his home for the weekend. His wife met Robert when she was reading to the blind. The narrator of the story who remains unnamed through the essay is not happy about Robert coming to stay in his home. He thought all blind people were the same and Robert taught him what it was like to be blind. “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.” (Pg. 33) I believe this quote is very important in this short story. The narrator is very jealous of Robert and all the attention to detail that his wife is giving Robert. The wife is catering to Robert’s …show more content…

The meal and how Robert could eat and not see his food was fascinating but smoking and not being burned was very impressing. The climax of the story was when Robert tells the husband to close his eyes and they finish the drawing together. “Go ahead, bub, draw,” he said. “Draw. You’ll see. I’ll follow along with you. It’ll be okay. Just begin now like I’m telling you. You’ll see. Draw,” the blind man said. (pg. 32) Robert made him think about things differently when he asked him to close his eyes and draw a picture of the cathedral together. He was not able to describe a cathedral to Robert, so Robert placed his hand on top of his and told him to close his eyes and they drew the cathedral …show more content…

It had to have been extremely hard being married to a blind man and him never being able to see what you looked like or anything. “A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved.” (pg. 22) It also had to be hard on Robert when Beulah passed away because he never got to see her so therefore he could not describe how she looked or anything to anyone. Lawyer 2 “The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.” (Pg. 32) When trying to describe what a cathedral looked like to the blind man the husband is struggling. But the real reason he can not describe the Cathedral is because it has no meaning to him because he admits he is not religious. After drawing the Cathedral and “feeling” the movement this opened a door in his mind and made it visible. Robert, the wife, and the husband all gain insight through the drawing of the Cathedral. Robert possesses blindness but is gifted in understanding ignorance. The husband is ignorant to the blindness, yet Robert helps him understand his world of darkness. In the end, the blindness is what unites them and they both observe the same world. The narrator learned that people are not what they seem. He already had an opinion before he had ever even met

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Furthermore, the narrator is starting to realize that he enjoys Robert’s company as well as compelled to explore Robert’s eye sight limits, to help Robert visualize a cathedral. The narrator tries to describe a cathedral, but failed to do so, and retreats back into cynicism. The narrator’s response Robert’s question was, “the truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing cathedrals.

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Raymond Carver is said to be one the most influential American writers and poets in the 20th century, especially in his works of short stories. One of his most famous pieces is “Cathedral.” This well-known short story is the final piece in Carver’s collection Cathedral published in 1983. Carver includes much symbolism through the story’s plot, structure, point of view, tone, and character build. The depictions of each character’s experiences, the irony in the story, and hearing the narrator’s point of view in “Cathedral” work in harmony to support its themes that prejudice and ignorance as well as the nature of reality are present and change throughout the course of the story, and all lead to a strong character development by the close.

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In the world of literature, stories are often released for the purpose of social commentary or even to reflect on the authors past in a that its similar to an autobiography. Raymond Carver is a unique author often creating short stories that are of his own personal life through fictional characters that embody the turmoil he has gone through and social commentary on social issues. This is seen especially in his 1981 short story, Cathedral with a revised version being released in 1983, but we are gonna focus on the 1981 original. Cathedral’s plot centers around a blind man named Robert who after his wife dies, he lives with his departed wife’s friend who soon alongside her husband, helps teach Robert to learn a new way of seeing. The plot of the story while simple, is very complex under the surface, being a plot that is about three people who is dependent on each other and the connection that develops.

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The narrator then proceeds to show Robert what a cathedral looks like by taking his hand and drawing a cathedral on “a shopping bag with onion skins in the the bottom of the bag.” (Carver 110) . Through this bricolage, the narrator closes his eyes and has an epiphany, for in this moment where his eyes are closed, hands intertwined, he truly sees, and “ ‘It’s really something,” (Carver 135). It’s the minimalistic approach that prefaces this big event that really showcases the theme. Carver’s use of colloquial language, in creation of an increasingly relatable scene allows for the reader to empathize with the narrator, allowing for a much stronger impact when the epiphany occurs and the story’s theme has been

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