In Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral," the relationship between the narrator and his wife is one of distanced silence and isolation. This is caused by the narrator’s constant drinking and smoking of marijuana as well as his wife’s responses to feelings of loneliness. The narrator does not spend enough time with his wife but rather with Robert, the blind man. The relationship is also marred by the narrator’s jealousy over his wife’s relationships with other men, such as Robert and her first husband. The narrator points out that the wife’s first husband had first enjoyed her favors and when the blind man arrives, she showers him with attention. Further, he observes that when his wife took her eyes off the blind man and looked at the narrator, it