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Raymond Carver's Use Of Irony In Cathedral

1052 Words5 Pages

Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a short story that unfolds through the perspective of Bub. The story begins with the depiction of Bub’s narrow-mindedness and as the story progresses, it becomes clear that his perspective shifts after an encounter with his wife’s blind friend Robert. It’s through his encounter that he has an epiphany. His jealousy towards Robert and intoxication that debunk his preconceived notations and highlight the connection between him and Robert. Only, after his epiphany that he’s drawn out of his obliviousness and he gains insight. Bub’s wife, his smoking, and drinking are key elements in breaking apart his bias and as a result, he’s enlightened. Bub’s epiphany helps him realize how Robert mirrors his life. The first …show more content…

As shown when the narrator went to turn on the television and his wife felt he was vainly disrespectful towards Robert. The narrator’s wife believed that due to Robert’s blindness, he wouldn’t have a television set. She wanted Bub to have respect and take into consideration the possibility that Robert may not have a TV. Robert proved them wrong when he said, “My dear, I have two TVs. I have a color set and a black-and-white thing, an old relic” … “This is a color TV,” the blind man said. “Don’t ask me how, but I can tell” (pg. 8). Not only shocked Bub, but his wife, they couldn’t fathom because of Robert's …show more content…

Their bond formed throughout the short story and it helped pick apart Bub’s assumptions about blind people. Robert and Bub’s drinking, eating, and smoking it allowed them to relax and accept each other’s company. “...I’ll stay up with you bub. If that’s all right…We haven’t had a chance to talk. Know what I mean? I’m glad for the company” (pg. 8). That moment showed that Bub is comfortable around Robert, and it also indicates that he began to warm up to Robert. He no longer sees him as just the blind man, but a man. His change of heart resulted from the alcohol and cannabis consumed, which removed temporarily removed Bub’s blinders and allowed him to see

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Robert’s wife has recently died and he used to work for the narrator’s wife. Robert comes to visit the narrator’s home and the narrator is not happy about this because he believes blind people to be miserable and gloomy based solely on what he has absorbed from the movies. At the end of the first paragraph, he says, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (1.1). Little to the narrator’s knowledge, his wife and Robert had been using audio tape to correspond over ten years, and have much past history with each other. The narrator’s wife makes sure he knows to make Robert comfortable, and if he doesn’t it shows that he does not love her.

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He takes note of the simple things, like the awkward silence at dinner, where “we ate everything there was to eat on the table,” (Carver 45), and how they “got up from the table and left the dirty plates,” (Carver 45). Nothing too exciting happens, aside the narrator, when he “asked if he wanted to smoke some dope with me,” (Carver 55). Carver creates a very relatable story that mainly showcases ordinary people doing ordinary things. Although seeming to be anticlimactic for the majority of the story, these dull moments lead to a very important event. Robert and the narrator sit on the couch after the wife has fallen asleep, watching TV, when a documentary about cathedrals comes on.

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Robert literally can’t see, but he does obtain vision only on a deeper level. The narrator isn’t too enamored with the idea of another man coming to his home. He is insensitive and makes some harsh comments that make Robert feel a little uncomfortable. Due to his callous and unsympathetic personality, the narrator is never able to connect with his wife while Robert is instantly able to. Robert comes to visit the narrator and his wife at their home for the first time.

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