I fear this essay may come off a bit choppy due to the fact that while reading “The Cathedral” by Raymond Carver I had a lot of different questions and thoughts running through my head. The first thing I noticed was that the narrator never really uses names and that confused me. Making the story difficult to navigate and raising the question‚ why leave character names a mystery until later? What purpose does it serve? We never learn the names of the narrator‚ the wife or the officer‚ most of the
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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
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Bah 1 Beverly Fraser Effective Reading and Writing 603-101-MC Friday October 30th‚ 2015 Cathedral In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver‚ the author represents that physical appearance and personality are two different things through the characters actions. The unnamed narrator and his wife don’t know each other intimately although they live together. Consequently‚ after working
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Call for an Unexpected Change An initiation story‚ or better yet a “coming-of-age story‚” is a narrative in which the main character witnesses a rite of passage that prepares him or her for adulthood. In “A&P” by John Updike and “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver‚ the protagonist faces an initiation moment that awakens him to a new reality. Sammy‚ the narrator in “A&P”‚ is distracted by three barefooted girls in bikinis who walk into the grocery store. The settings for “A&P” and “Cathedral” both take
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The story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is about one man’s understanding and acceptance of a blind man. The narrator represents the story’s dominant theme of overcoming prejudice of the blind through personal experience as well as mutual respect. The narrator‚ who remains nameless‚ holds deeply unfounded beliefs and stereotypes of what a blind person should be‚ yet over a relatively short period of time he develops a bond with the blind man‚ whom at first he privately mocked. The narrator’s preconceived
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1 English 110 30 July 2014 Loneliness is an attitude An attitude of loneliness is what the characters in Carver‚ Shepard and Duras’s stories have chosen as a way of life. Marguerite Duras chooses loneliness in her characters solely due to love‚ while Carver and Shepard’s characters choose an attitude of loneliness transpired from alcoholism and disappointment in love. Loneliness‚ an outcome of alcoholism can lead to lack of motivation to improve oneself. The lack of motivation in Carver’s
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“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is set in 1983 in the narrator’s house somewhere In New York. The story starts with the narrator telling us about his wife’s old friend that was blind. The narrator tells us about how the blind man’s wife had died. The blind man then contacted the narrator’s wife. Arrangements were made and then the blind man was coming to spend the night at the narrators house. He would come to New York from his in laws in Connecticut by a 5-hour train ride. The blind and the wife always
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descriptive words with negative connotation; “This blind man was late forties‚ a heavy-set‚ balding man with stooped shoulders‚ as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks‚ brown shoes‚ a light-brown shirt‚ a tie‚ a sports coat. Spiffy” (Carver‚ 5). The narrator’s description‚ not only subconsciously affects his feelings towards Robert‚ but also affects the opinions of the readers. Instead of allowing the readers to develop an opinion of their own‚ the narrator’s bias has created one. The
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in the US think they do not fit in their jobs so they feel frequently dissatisfied in their work. In Raymond Carver’s “Vitamins‚” the major theme of this story is about dissatisfaction. Nobody seems to have passion in their life‚ and no one does not actually dream about what else they want to be. The unnamed narrator confesses to his wife Patti about his feeling that "maybe I don’t dream" (Carver 251)‚ and he also tells readers that he "didn’t care" (251) what goes on in his dreams. Even Patti‚ the
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“They’re Not Your Husband” is a short story by Raymond Carver‚ where he writes about the man named Earl Ober‚ who is an unemployed salesman‚ with his wife (Doreen) working as a waitress‚ at a 24-hour coffee shop. After a night of drinking as he usually does he goes to see the place where his wife works. Here he is treated like a nuisance by his wife. Two men start talking about his wife’s weight and this bothers Earl greatly. He decides to let Doreen know that she (he) has a problem with her weight
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