Austin Barrett
Gosia Gabrys
English 1110.02
27 Oct 2015
Analysis of Cathedral
The narrator of Raymond Carver's short story Cathedral starts by saying, "This blind man, an old friend of my wife's, he was on his way to spend the night. "The narrator continues to say that after the blind man's wife died while visiting her relatives in nearby Connecticut, he had called the narrator's wife to arrange a visit of old friends. The narrator admits he is not excited about this man coming to visit his wife. "He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to." Soon enough, the narrator would come to look at being blind in a much different way and even come to realize that he himself is being blind.
The narrator then tells how his
…show more content…
He asks the narrator to find a pen and some paper so they can draw a cathedral together. The narrator brings some back. The blind man tells him to grab the pen, then puts his hand around the narrator's. The narrator draws a box that looks like a house. He adds spires, great doors and flying buttresses. He finds himself a little excited and can't stop. His wife wakes up and asks what they are doing, and the blind man tells her they're drawing a cathedral. The narrator keeps drawing as the blind man asks him to put in some people. His wife asks again what's going on, but the blind man assures her that everything is alright. Then he tells the narrator to close his eyes. The blind man asks if they really are closed, and the narrator says yes, so the blind man asks him to keep them that way. The narrator keeps drawing, his eyes closed, with Robert's fingers clasped over his as their hands gliding over the paper. The narrator explains, "It was like nothing else in my life until