Free Essays on Cathedral

The narrator in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† has two fully functional eyes, in which he chooses never to use to their full potential. They eyes of the narrator are insecure, jealous, lonely, and prejudiced. They are limited in what they choose to see. The tone of the narrator conveys his inability to see throughout the entire story. The narrator’s tone also reveals his character and personality. The first few pages of the story reveal the narrator’s blurred view of his own life, his wife’s life, and the entire world around him. The reader is quick to discover that the narrator seems to have an unhappy and insecure outlook on life. The narrator’s blurred view of everything that happened in his wife’s life reveals the insecurity that plagues him. When referring to his wife’s ex-husband he says, â€Å"Her officer- why should he have a name? He was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?†(pg225). BY treating everyone the same and denying them importance, the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important in the lives of others. He simply calls his wife’s first husband â€Å"the officer† or â€Å"the man†(pg224). His refusal to even use his wife’s name while narrating as well as constantly referring to Robert as â€Å"the blind man†(pg224). Shows he blocks the importance of p eople around him. The narrator chooses not to be like Robert at first because of his disability. The narrator is aggravated and insecure about the fact that his wife talks and writes that she allowed Robert to touch her face. â€Å"She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose- even her neck†(pg224)! Because of the fact that his wife is so close to Robert, and is so happy in the event of his arrival, â€Å"I saw my wife laughing†(pg227), â€Å"She was still wearing a smile†(pg227P, is makes it easier for him to judge Robert according to his disability. The reader first learns of the narrato... Free Essays on Cathedral Free Essays on Cathedral In the short story â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver. I relate with the husband since personally I have never spend any time with a blind person. I would feel the same way as he did, since I wouldn’t know how to start. I used to have the same idea of a blind man as the narrator of the story. The narrator was expecting someone who never laughed and moved slowly. I relate to this character in every sense, it is hard to start a conversation with a blind person, you might feel intimidated. The ending is where I relate more to the character than any other place. At the ending the narrator closes his eyes and just imagines himself to be blind and he finally connects with the blind man. I have closed my eyes a few times and I have imagined how it will be to not be able to see my love ones appearance. In the second short story â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place†, by Ernest Hemingway. I can’t relate to the young waiter he is just self-absorbed. The young waiter is an excellent example of the type of human beings that only think about themselves. Throughout his conversation with the older waiter, the young waiter insults the old deaf man, calling him â€Å"a nasty thing.† The older waiter defends the senior, however, saying that he is clean and dignified in his drunkenness. The younger waiter forces the man to pay the bill, and soon the man leaves. The young waiter is impatient with the old man, hoping to return home to his wife by a decent hour. He doesn’t understand the old deaf man circumstances as the older waiter does. He doesn’t understand how important it is to offer such a clean, well-lighted place to his customers. In â€Å"Cathedral† I would change the negative response that the narrator has about spending time with a blind person. I do relate with his feelings and thoughts about blind people but not his first reaction. He tells us immediately that his visitor's blindness molests him and that he is not looking forward ... Free Essays on Cathedral The narrator in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† has two fully functional eyes, in which he chooses never to use to their full potential. They eyes of the narrator are insecure, jealous, lonely, and prejudiced. They are limited in what they choose to see. The tone of the narrator conveys his inability to see throughout the entire story. The narrator’s tone also reveals his character and personality. The first few pages of the story reveal the narrator’s blurred view of his own life, his wife’s life, and the entire world around him. The reader is quick to discover that the narrator seems to have an unhappy and insecure outlook on life. The narrator’s blurred view of everything that happened in his wife’s life reveals the insecurity that plagues him. When referring to his wife’s ex-husband he says, â€Å"Her officer- why should he have a name? He was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?†(pg225). BY treating everyone the same and denying them importance, the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important in the lives of others. He simply calls his wife’s first husband â€Å"the officer† or â€Å"the man†(pg224). His refusal to even use his wife’s name while narrating as well as constantly referring to Robert as â€Å"the blind man†(pg224). Shows he blocks the importance of p eople around him. The narrator chooses not to be like Robert at first because of his disability. The narrator is aggravated and insecure about the fact that his wife talks and writes that she allowed Robert to touch her face. â€Å"She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose- even her neck†(pg224)! Because of the fact that his wife is so close to Robert, and is so happy in the event of his arrival, â€Å"I saw my wife laughing†(pg227), â€Å"She was still wearing a smile†(pg227P, is makes it easier for him to judge Robert according to his disability. The reader first learns of the narrato... Free Essays on Cathedral The protagonist in â€Å"Cathedral,† Bub, is a man who has several defining characteristics. Bub is insecure, insensitive, and ignorant. This is clearly shown in Bub’s relationships with his wife and Robert. Bub’s insecurities are blatantly shown when he comments on his wife’s ex-husband: Her officer-why should be have a name? He was her childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want? Bub resents the ex-husband for being his wife’s first love. He would have liked to have had that role so he negatively addresses his wife’s past relationships. Bub’s unconfident mannerisms further transpire when he comments on his wife’s relationship with Robert. He states: In time she put it all on tape and sent the tape to the blind man. Over the years she put all kinds of stuff on tapes and sent the tapes off lickety-split. Next to writing a poem every year, I think it was her chief recreation. On the tape, she told the blind man she’d decided to live away from her officer for a time. On another tape she told him about her divorce. She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it. She told him everything, or so it seemed to me. This intense friendship between his wife and Robert further exacerbated his insecurities. Robert and his wife have an intimate relationship that Bub has never, and probably will never, have with his wife. He goes on to say: My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had the feelings she didn’t like what she saw. I shrugged. This relationship offers Bub only one consolation, he believes that because he can see that has an advantage. He constantly refers to Robert as â€Å"the blind man.† He never uses Robert’s name or assigns any human attributes to him. This insecurity is partially responsible for his wife’s continued involvement with Robert. Also responsible for his wife’s close relationship with Robert is Bub’... Free Essays on Cathedral Cathedral by Raymond Carter is a story about a man (the narrator of the story), his wife, and her longtime friend Robert, who is blind. Robert is coming to visit the man’s wife. Robert’s wife, Beulah, had just recently died and he is visiting his dead wife’s relatives in Connecticut. The narrator is not enthusiastic about this visit from his wife’s friend. At the beginning of this short story, the tone of the narrator is bitterness and ignorance. His tone moves to enlightenment by the conclusion. This dinner party will break down the barriers between the blind and those who have full use of his or her eyes. Within the first two paragraphs of the story, the narrator describes how Robert and his wife met and continued their relationship over several years within the first two paragraphs of this short story. The narrator is bitter about the relationship between Robert and his wife. He is especially disturbed or bothered by the level of intimacy between the two. The narrator’s wife and Robert communicated with each other via taped letters. His wife shared every detail of her life with Robert including moving from base to base, divorce from her childhood sweetheart, and an attempted suicide. On her last day at work with the blind man, she allowed him to â€Å"see† her by permitting him to touch her face and neck. At this point in the short story more bitterness is displayed by the narrator. This bitterness seems to be about a poem written about the experience! The narrator displays his ignorance regarding the blind and his or her limitations in several instances throughout the story. He first admits that his knowledge of the blind is limited to images that he had seen in the movies. He described the blind as people who move slow and never smile or laugh. The man’s wife gives him more information about Robert after he suggests they go bowling together. His wife mentions that Robert was married to a woman named Beulah, who th... Free Essays on Cathedral Question: Compare the two couples evolving in Raymond Carver's Cathedral. Overcoming Differences Human being in nature is an integrated system that is influenced by his complex environment. As a matter of fact, we interact with our surrounding; human being is always seeking for a mate. In the following essay, I will discuss the differences between the two couples who evolve in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†; such as religious beliefs, physical appearance and relationship. Firstly, physical appearance plays a major role in today’s society. In our time, most people judge their equals based on their look, not their core. In â€Å"Cathedral†, Robert, a blind man, and his wife give no importance to perception. Their love is true and it is not based on the exterior. In contrast, the narrator overplays the importance of vision and physical appearance: â€Å"All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding† (11). It is obvious that his love isn’t based on fundamental values. Had his wife been different looking, it is very likely that they wouldn’t be together. Secondly, religious beliefs of the two couples are an issue that seems to divide whole populations and often it is used as a pretext to initiate conflicts. The author makes it clear that the two couples do not share the same spiritual values. In the story, Robert and his wife appear to be religious persons; they both agree to marry in a church: â€Å"Pretty soon Beulah and the blind man had themselves a church wedding† (11). On the other hand, the narrator openly states, while talking to Robert, that he does not believe in God: â€Å"I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything† (14). On a different occasion, he also makes fun of the prayer and says: â€Å"Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold† (12). His couple does not share the same divine beliefs. Thirdly, relationship in a couple has good ...