Cathedral by Raymond Carver - Essay Example

Cathedral by Raymond Carver Cathedral is a short-story written in a minimal style by Raymond Carver’s which is regarded as one of the best stories. In the story, the narrator who is unnamed man describes his experience with his wife’s best friend Robert. Robert was a blind employer of narrator’s wife about 10 years ago whose wife had just died. Robert was invited by the narrator’s wife to pay them a visit after long period of communication such as through mailing of tapes. The wife recalls one time when Robert sensitively ran his hands all over her face, an issue which she never forgot and even tried to write a poem about it.

Narrator seems uncomfortable and disturbed with Robert because he is blind. He feels that he is superior compared with the blind man. The narrator’s opinion and attitude towards blind man is largely contributed by his perception of blind men from movies. He feels that it is strange for Robert not to wear dark glasses yet his eyes looked weird. Narrator is so much disturbed by the fact that Robert cannot perfectly use his eyes to see instead of concentrating on the Robert’s understanding and ability to clearly think and feel things deeply (Carver 186-190).2. The narrator is unable to describe cathedral perhaps because he is not religious and therefore cathedrals are meaningless to him.

Inability to describe cathedral shows that the narrator lacks insight and self-awareness thus leading him to a journey to self-realization as he realizes the limitations of his outlook. Although the narrator can literally see things, he does not pay much attention to what he does with his eyes. He does not understand what being blind entails particularly due to the fact that Robert understands what cathedral looks like even without visual knowledge.3. The blind man tells the writer to close his eyes while closing his eyes so that he can deeply understand and concentrate what he is doing by having a true sight with the real meaning lying within vision.

Robert hopes to teach the narrator a way of looking inward to gain deeper understanding of himself and to see excellent reality. He realizes the depth in genuineness that disturbs the narrator by quietly listening to him while he struggles to describe cathedral. The narrator seems to enjoy the experience of closing his eyes while drawing cathedral. The newfound knowledge and understanding makes him believe that the experience was a very important aspect in his journey to self-realization. Narrator feels that his inner eyes that are based on his mind but not literal eyes are more important (Carver 196).4. Cathedral represents true sight of Robert.

His ability to see beyond his blind eyes is greatly portrayed by his deeper understanding and knowledge of Cathedral. Cathedral further shows Robert’s Christian religion. The blind man seems comfortable with his situation thus making him to understand more than what the narrator understands. This can be seen when he asks the narrator to close his eyes while drawing cathedral. Cathedral also depicts creativity of Robert and his ability to understand the issues surrounding the narrator. Cathedral symbolizes the narrator’s awakening and journey to self-realization by gaining insight into his own life while drawing the picture of cathedral.

Cathedral symbolizes transition from depending on literal eyes to the use of mind eyes by appreciating the experience he got from closing his eyes while drawing the cathedral. Narrator’s attitude towards blind people and life dramatically changes since he can see beyond what is immediately visible (Carver 196).Works CitedCarver, Raymond. "Cathedral." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. Cassill, R.V. and Richard Bausch. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. 186-196. Print.