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The Role Of The Husband In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

1286 Words6 Pages

“Cathedral” published in 1983 by Raymond Carver talks about a husband’s change of attitude. I went into detail on the husband’s character changing throughout the story by describing his behavior and actions and focusing on the husband’s comments towards Robert. I also talked about how Robert and the wife do not go into detail talking about the husband because Raymond Carver wants you to fill in the blanks on what you think the husband’s personality is. The husband’s character is easier to understand after he has a couple drinks and is faced with Robert one on one while watching a documentary series on Cathedrals.
The husband’s actions and behavior change drastically throughout “Cathedral”. He went from a stubborn attitude towards Robert to being sympathetic at the end. The very first line of Cathedral the husband refers to Robert as “this blind man”, which gives you a little taste of his attitude towards blind people. The husband isn’t very enthusiastic about Robert coming to stay with him and his wife because Robert …show more content…

When Robert and the husband are drawing the Cathedral there’s a connection between them that is much different than when they first met. The husband is beginning to realize what it’s like not being able to see and having to feel everything. When he first tries to draw the Cathedral he can’t. The Cathedral has no meaning towards him. When he closes his eyes he gets a feel for the Cathedral when Robert guides his hand and he begins to understand the meaning of having to feel things. He sees more at the end with his eyes closed than when they were open. Drinking/smoking is also symbol because throughout the night they drink a lot, twenty-two drinks in fact. He drinks before almost every activity and says he smokes marijuana every day. This gives the conversation a calm tone when “Cathedral” is coming to a

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