Symbolism in Cathedral Essay

issuess the symbolic significance of the Cathedral.

A cathedral is an awe-inspiring structure which takes many people to cooperate to build. A cathedral is a place for people to gather, worship, and communicate. In the story, the Cathedral symbolizes human connection and the willingness of people to work together to build a building of spiritual awareness and a place for people to meet and communicate.

In the story Cathedral, the reader cleary sees the symbolic significance of the cathedral by how the narrator and Robert work together in the end to draw the cathedral, which ultimately allows the narrator to become aware of how it is to be blind and provides self awareness.

The narrator, who seems to be a man who alienates himself, learns to work cooperatively seeing what it is like to be blind. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is biased towards the blind man and believes everything that the media has interpreted of what a blind man is like. My ideas of blindness came from the movies. The reader can decipher that the narrator watches too much TV (TV is mentioned many times throughout the story) and is closed minded in the way he thinks.

At the end of the story, when Robert and the narrator are working together to draw the cathedral, is the point in which the narrator starts to become open minded towards the blind. The fact that they are working together demonstrates the way people have to work together to create a cathedral and the way the narrator becomes determined to draw the cathedral demonstrates the building of the cathedral as a way of bringing people together. The narrator is actually awe inspired by the blind when drawing the cathedral. Its really something. the narrator says at the last line of the story. The narrator becomes aware of how it is to be blind as how a cathedral is built to demonstrate spiritual awareness.

What proof is there that the narrator experiences alienation and loneliness?

There is much proof throughout the story that the narrator experiences loneliness and alienation. This is proved by the narrators daily routines, his social awkwardness, and what his wife says to him.

The narrator says every night I smoke dope. Happy people who are not feeling symptoms of loneliness usually dont smoke dope every night. The reader can also interpret that another daily routine is drinking. Drinking is referred to many times in the story and it seems that the narrator drinks a lot to get over his social awkwardness. When Robert comes over, the narrator drinks many times hinting that the narrator is nervous of his meeting with Robert because he hasnt talked to anyone for a long while. The narrator was having a drink watching TV before Robert and the narrator meet.

Another indicator in Roberts daily routine that leads the reader to believe the narrator is lonely, is how he interprets life using the TV. It seems as though he lives through his TV and uses it as a tool to avoid conversation, Finally when I thought he was beginning to run down I turned on the TV.

When Robert first comes into the house, the reader sees how the narrator wants to talk but doesnt know how. His eagerness to talk in the beginning, shows that he is lonely but his alienation from people has made him unable to communicate with Robert in a normal way. Like wise , I said. I didnt know what to say. I started to say something about the old sofa but I didnt say anything. The narrator, who is eager for communication, is obviously excited about the company but is too nervous to talk.

His wife saying You dont have any friends , clearly shows the narrators alienation from people. To not have friends would be very lonely. The narrator does not have the support of friends and this causes him to go through his daily routine of isolation which includes drinking, getting high and watching TV; something lonely people do.

Why is it particularly ironic that the narrator pities Beulah?

It is ironic that the narrator pities Beulah because Robert and Beulah appeared to have a wonderful marriage; described as inseparable. The narrators marriage, on the other hand, seems to be missing many elements that provide a strong marriage. This is ironic because the reader finds himself pitying the wife of the narrator and not Beulah.

Robert seems to be a confident man who enjoys conversing. Robert also is the type of man who cares for others Bub, its all right. These characteristics are seen as good qualities in a man by a majority of women. Robert and Beulahs relationship was probably on a deeper scale then most marriages which is implied by the way Robert is able to get on a deeper level with people, even with the narrator, although the narrator is rude to Robert in the beginning. Robert demonstrates this when he says to the narrator We havent had a chance to talk. Know what I mean?

The narrators marriage seems to be full of irritations, My wife looked at me with irritation. The narrator does not fulfill his wifes need for deeper relationship and intimacy, My wife and I hardly ever went to bed at the same time. The narrator doesnt even try to understand his wife I didnt think much of the poem. The fact that the narrator doesnt care much about the poem translates into that he doesnt care much about trying to understand his wife. This causes the reader to pity the wife becomes she seems unhappy.