Preview

Robert Carver's Poem Cathedral

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
335 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Robert Carver's Poem Cathedral
in the poem cathedral by robert carvin the narrator is told by his wife that she is inviting a blind friend over the narrator finds out that his wife has been send audio tapes with a blind man named Robert who she worked for several years ago. at first the narrator was closed minded about the blind man but when the wife bring the blindman from the airport he introduces himself as robert the first thing that came to robert mind was that not what he was expecting a blind man to look like how robert was dressed he was not expecting him to have a full beard and not wear dark glasses.During his visit and dinner, the narrator feels threatened by the relationship his wife and Robert share and he doesn't know why throughout the story the narrator
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay
    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay

    In the short story “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, the narrator draws a cathedral with his blind guest and transforms from a narrow-minded, materialistic, and superficial individual to an individual who acknowledges the spiritual aspects of life and the lives of those around him. Before the egoist narrator meets the blind man, Bub is so closed-minded, jealous, and materialistic that he does not want to help someone in need and he does not empathize with the hardships others endure. However, after Bub communicates with Robert and engineers an emotional connection, he is no longer limited by his former characteristics. Through this emotional link, Robert assists Bub in opening his mind to the spiritual world and feeling empathy for others.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    'The Rich Brother' By Tobias Wolf
    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    'The Rich Brother' By Tobias Wolf

    When describing the blind man’s relationship and interactions with his wife he says “All this without seeing what the god-damned woman looked like” Carver 108). This shows the narrator’s arrogance. He assumes that because the man couldn’t see what his wife looked like they couldn’t have a normal relationship. When speaking with the blind man the narrator continues to judge him based strictly off of appearance. He says that he had wished the man had dark glasses on because his eyes were “creepy”. Later when the Narrators wife went up to bed he was left alone with the blind man. He said “I wished she’d come back downstairs. I didn’t want to be left alone with a blind man” (Carver 111). The blind man is like any other person in this world except for the fact that he can’t see. This goes to show that the narrator doesn’t see people for who they actually are, he is judging him strictly off of a physical disability. The narrator and the blind man eventually decide to smoke a joint and watch T.V. The narrator was describing what was going on in the show and a cathedral appeared. He realized that the blind man probably had no idea what a cathedral looked like so he tried describing it to him. When he realized that he could not describe it they decide to draw it together while the blind man put his hand on top of the narrators. The blind man told him to close his eyes while…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Story Of Acceptance In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Story Of Acceptance In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    They became very close and told each other every aspect about their lives. Robert eventually married a woman by the name of Beulah who then died of cancer. Robert was visiting his wife’s relatives in Connecticut and was going to visit the narrator’s wife and spend the night. This made the Narrator very uneasy. He mentioned that blind people bothered him and he only saw them in movies. He stated, “The blind moved slowly and never laughed.” The Narrator did not look forward to Robert visiting but he had no choice. Robert came by train and the Narrator’s wife picked him up. When he arrived at the house he met the Narrator. They then had drinks followed by dinner. After dinner they all gathered around the TV. The Narrators wife went upstairs to put on her robe. The Narrator then offered Robert some marijuana and he accepted. At this time the wife returned and smoked with them, soon after she fell asleep. The Narrator and Robert started watching a show on Cathedrals. Robert asked the Narrator to describe to him what a Cathedral looked like. Unfortunately, he could not. The Narrator tried to explain it but was at a loss of words.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Open Boat Analysis
    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Open Boat Analysis

    In the beginning of the "Cathedral" the narrator comes off very prejudice. Raymond Carver says "my idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed." The narrators’ attitude towards the blind and how they live their life is very naive. Unlike her husband the narrators wife is understanding and compassionate. Although interactions between the two couple would suggest their marriage was in strife. As for Robert he is the blind man who joins the group already being good friends with the narrator’s wife. The narrator at first is uncomfortable around Robert. But as interactions between the two men progress the narrator is finally able to see what his wife saw in Robert the whole time. A kind and ordinary man, who was no different than you and…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Character Analysis - Cathedral
    • 771 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Character Analysis - Cathedral

    Carver exposes the narrator’s true personality using a first-person narrative. It isn’t hard to tell that the narrator is jealous of Robert and his wives past relationship. His wife used to work for Robert one summer in Seattle, ten years ago, as a “Reading to Blind Man” (299). She had to quit when she decided to marry her childhood sweetheart for her first marriage, but Robert and her stayed in touch by sending each other voice tapes through the mail (301). The narrator is making assumptions and criticisms about blind people because of his jealousy towards his wives and Roberts’s relationship. You can speculate this because of the sequence the story is told in: first the narrator talks about the relationship the blind man and his wife used to have, and then he talks about what he thinks of blind people in general. He states that his idea of blindness came from the movies and that he has never met a blind person before (299).…

    • 771 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Audiotapes In Ernest Hemingway's Short Stories
    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Audiotapes In Ernest Hemingway's Short Stories

    When he hears a bit of Robert’s tape, he says it sounds only like “harmless chitchat,” not realizing that this sort of intimate communication is exactly what his own marriage lacks. He knows that his wife has told Robert about him and has probably complained about his faults. This makes him feel guilty, insecure, and somewhat hostile toward both his wife and Robert. Only when the narrator closes his eyes to finish drawing the cathedral does he approach the level of understanding that his wife and Robert have achieved through their taped correspondence. This reveals the extent of his self-delusion and what he believes is what is important in a relationship. He assumes that because he can see, he is more capable of brining joy and happiness to his wife as compared to Robert. But the audiotapes show that there is a huge difference between seeing with one’s eyes and seeing with one’s heart. For the first time he is seeing, rather than…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Husband In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Husband In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    In Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral”, he tells a story about an old friend visiting. Robert, the blind man, and the husband are alike in a couple ways, including the fact that they both care about the wife, and they both like to drink. The husband and Robert also have many differences; the husband is more judgmental than Robert, who has more of an open mind. There is the obvious difference that the husband is not blind like Robert. Carver wrote this story from the husband’s point of view, so we heard everything from him, and saw things the way he did.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Loneliness And Escapism In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Loneliness And Escapism In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    The narrator drinks too much, jealous of his wife, unable to adequately communicate with his wife, and unconnected to other human beings. In addition not only unconnected to others, but he also seems to resent his wife’s connections to other people as well. When “I” spoke of the impending visit by my wife’s friend: the blind man , he states that, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 32). “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 32). Furthermore, when Robert arrived at “my” house, the narrator made no special effort to engage Robert in conversation. He preferred…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Blind Man´s View In Raymond Carver's Story Cathedral
    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Blind Man´s View In Raymond Carver's Story Cathedral

    He thinks to himself, “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together-had sex, sure-and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamn woman looked like. It was beyond my Understanding.” (Carver 35). In this quote the narrator doesn’t understand that even though Robert had never “seen” his wife that he was able to get an idea of what she looked like by feeling her features. The blind man also is also able to look past someone’s appearance and get a first impression by the way someone talks to him rather than their skin color or the way they dress. In a way the narrator is blinded from who people really are because he is a sighted person. Another example of his incompetence is when Robert starts to smoke and the narrator thinks, “I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because as speculation had it, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled. I thought I knew that much and that much only about blind people.” (Carver 36). This is a prime example of how the narrator is ignorant because people do not smoke so they can see themselves exhaling smoke. This is where Robert starts to teach the narrator about blind people and their…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Open Mind In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 229 Words
    • 1 Page

    Open Mind In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    For the Narrator I believe that as the story is coming to a close, he comes to the resolution of no one is ever going to completely understand everything in life but you need to have an open mind. As the reader we understand that the Narrator is having trouble with his identity by saying “I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it’s hard. You know what I’m saying?” (Carver 41). It makes more sense of why at first the Narrator was ignorant about blindness; when you don’t know who you are, you don’t want to care about anyone else. This is a very selfish mentality but with Robert’s open mindness when the Narrator tried explaining the cathedral, it helped the Narrator over come this internal struggle (Carver 42). By interacting…

    • 229 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cathedral Character Analysis
    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cathedral Character Analysis

    When we first meet the narrator he is fearful of his new visitor and what it will do to his family and shows that he does not have very good feelings towards this blind man. The narrator immediately lets us know where he stands by saying "I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit... And his being blind bothered me." (Carver 106). This statement shows a great deal of ignorance in the character and a good sense of short-sighted views. However, he goes to stress that "[His] idea of blindness came from the movies.". He uses the pop cultural reference to blind people to excuse his ignorance, but all he shows to the audience is that he knows only of fictional blind people and has to base his opinion on his visitor from that (Carver 106). With him being a honest character, he does reveal what is truly bothering him is his jealousy of Robert, but initially this information is clouded by the narrator's obsession with Robert's blindness. From that we can actually come out and say that the narrator is blind in the beginning of the story, and he's the one that can't see who Robert is. He even tells us that he has no real understanding of his wife when he mentions her poetry "I didn't think much of the poem. Of course, I didn't tell her that." even though he…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Role Of The Narrator In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    This is evident in the narrator’s reaction, through Carvers writing, when he is informed that the blind man was coming to stay with them. Rather than reacting with a false guise of comfort, he instead replies sarcastically saying, “Maybe I could take him bowling,” (3) knowing full man the blind man couldn’t even see the pins, ball, or lane he would be playing in. This sarcasm extends from discomfort, and the narrator’s unwillingness to want to deal with the blind man’s presence. The narrator had never even met the man once in his life, and yet here this blind man is coming to live in his house, eat his food, and sleep in his bed. He does not pretend to be okay with this simply because his wife knew the blind man for so many years.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Looking And Seeing In Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Looking And Seeing In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    It took a blind man to help the narrator to actually see. In “Cathedral” what is known as looking is physical vision, but in order to really see, it requires a stronger and deeper involvement. The narrator is only seeing through his eyes and is not looking at the bigger picture. Robert however, has the ability to “see” in a deeper level. Even though Robert can’t physically see the narrator’s wife he understands her more because he listens. The narrator had to go through lack of intimacy while dealing with jealousy and having lack of communication with his wife before one person could help him accept and understand life as he should. The narrator learns that the ability to really see involves more than just…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Raymond Carver's Cathedral
    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    In life people demonstrate many characteristics which make that person who they are; while these characteristics define the actions made by people, they also help others to determine why such actions were made, while also characterize them for what that person has done or will do. In today’s society certain characteristics are viewed in a negative light due to the changing ways of everyday life and increasing deviation of traditional American views to ones of a more liberal nature. In “Cathedral” Raymond Carver writes of a man who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, which creates psychological distance from the narrator, his wife, and the blind man. This is caused by the narrators need to escape reality and enjoy a world that is not his own.…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Cathedral by Raymond Carver
    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Cathedral by Raymond Carver

    In this story he creates a realistic human picture. He wants us to see the narrator’s character as figuratively blind. By the title we think the story is about a cathedral, but it is really about two man who are blind, on physically and the other psychologically. The Narrator looks at life from a very narrow-minded point of view, for example he seems to believe that the most important thing to women is being complimented on their looks: second he is unable to imagine his wife’s friend as a person, only as a blind man.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics