The Narration Of Joe In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

In Cathedral the main character we follow throughout the story is the narrator who is unnamed. As we know Carver likes to portray the average Joe in his stories and the narrator is one of them. He is just trying to get by and is flawed like any other human being. The narrator seems like an average grumpy husband who drinks and smokes marijuana. He begins the story being very narrow-minded and upset that his wife is bringing her blind friend Robert to stay with them. From this we can infer that the wife is much more loving and caring than her husband. The narrators wife has become close friends with Robert the blind man and helps him out in any way she can. The narrators first thought would be why is here and when is he leaving. Before Robert

The narrator then notices that he is nicely dressed, and pushing fifty. He also looks like he carries "a great weight" on his shoulders (1.31). They then they start having small talk and having drinks. Then once the narrator’s wife leaves because she is tired the narrator is left alone with Robert. They are just watching television and then they start smoking marijuana. A program about cathedrals then starts and the narrator asks if Robert can visualize one. Robert has the idea to draw one together. When the narrator starts drawing and closes his eyes he has an extraordinary experience. He says he knows he's at home, but doesn't feel like he's "inside anything" (3.49). The narrator becomes “un-blind” and he learns to see in a new way and gets a deeper understanding of Robert. In the end the narrator almost becomes a new man with a new understanding of life. He also improves his relationship with his wife because she wanted the narrator to make an effort to get to know Robert and help him. The narrator delivered in spite of his jealousy and he focused on Robert. This shows the wife he can connect with others and this will improve their marriage. The narrator also has gained a new friend and someone he can bond