Characters in Cathedral Essay

In the short story Cathedral Raymond Carver introduces the main character, who has no name. In this story the narrator can be perceived as the main character. The narrator is not an insightful man. He can be described as sarcastic, self-centered, egotistical, and arrogant. From the start of the story the narrator is not too thrilled about the blind manRobert visiting the Carvers home. He seems to be jealous and insecure of the history that his wife and Robert shared together. However, through the course of the story he starts changing his arrogant ways, and slowly becomes more at ease with the blind man. It wasnt till he started drawing the cathedral with the Robert when he experiences an epiphany after experiencing the cathedral through the blind mans eyes. This story reveals the narrator as a dynamic character in the short story, he is set in his ways; however, as the story comes to an end it shows how he changes his views about the blind man.

In the beginning of the story the narrator talks about Robertthe blind man who was a long time friend of the narrators wife. For the past ten years they remained really close friends. They sent each other recorded tapes back and forth as a means of communication. The narrator wasnt too eager about Roberts visit, and was bothered about the fact that he was blind. Additionally, the friendship that his wife and Robert carried for the past ten years bothered the narrator; he saw it as if he wasnt as important as the blind man is to his wife. Perhaps he placed him in that category because he felt threatened and insecure by the relationship the blind man and his wife shared. He made comments as if all blind people should use a cane and wear dark glasses; nonetheless, this wasnt the case with Robert. When the narrator sees Robert smoke a cigarette it astonishes him, the narrator thinks: I remember to having read somewhere that the blind didnt smoke because they couldnt see the smoke they exhaled But this blind man smoked his cigarette down to the nubbin and then lit another one. (465) Moreover, this story can portray the narrator to be somewhat of a racist. As his wife was explaining the tragedy that happened with the blind mans wifeBeulah, he immediately made his sarcastic remarks: she must be a colored woman(462) This shows how self-centered the narrator was, and perhaps can show that the blind one is the narrator to the world around him.

Carvers response to the blind mans independence illustrates some of his stereotypical ways. Carver assumed Robert didnt do certain things just because he was blind. An example of his reaction was when he first saw the blind man getting out of the car he says: This Blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say. (463)

As the blind man enters the Carvers home, his wife tries to make Robert feel as comfortable as possible. But the husband makes very little effort in making the blind man feel comfortable, since he didnt want him to be there in the first place. Soon Robert, the narrator and his wife have dinner together. It was an uncomfortable dinner for all of them. In fact, it was a very quiet dinner. As the narrator describes in the story: We ate everything there was on the table. We at like there was no tomorrow. We didnt talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating.(465) This goes to show that Carver seemed to care more about eating, drinking, and smoking than having the blind man visit their home. In which again, shows his narcissistic ways.

After dinner, the three sat down in the living room, had some drinks, smoked dope, and watched television. The wife becomes tired and falls asleep, and the two men are left alone together. This is when you see the narrators character start shifting.

Finally, the narrator makes a slight attempt to somehow connect with Robert. While they were watching TV together the narratorBub, as the blind man would call him, started explaining to Robert a little about what was going on the TV show they were watching about Cathedrals. He became flustered at times, as if he wasnt doing a good enough job explaining what he was seeing to the blind man. The narrator said Youll have to forgive me, he said But I cant tell you what a cathedral looks like. It just isnt in me to do it. (105) It seems as for a second the narrator was trying to somehow bond with Robert and seems to make a slight attempt to see past Roberts disability.

Carver is presented as an arrogant man at the beginning of the story, he doesnt want to go out of his comfort zone; however, he is forced to when he gets caught off guard towards the end of the story as they are drawing the cathedral together. This is when both men start bonding and the dynamic character starts changing his views. As the narrator closes his eyes while they are drawing the cathedral he has an epiphany in which he feels like he isnt anywhere.