Raymond Carver: Cathedral - Essay Example

Jack and Fran then get the chance to see Bud’s child and they are amazed how ugly the kid is yet the parents do not seem amazed or bothered. After that night, Jack and his wife Fran started to feel good about everything in their lives (Carver, 25). This feeling is the catalysts of changes in his life that makes the narrator view that night as a special one. The narrator says “that he does not want the memories of the night to fade.” When Ann and Howard visits the Baker, Ann is till angered by the fact that their son whom they had been waiting for all the while was dead.

The anger had taken a toll on her and she had not been able to eat for quite some time (Carver 32). When the baker calms them down and suggests that they should eat, Ann suddenly realizes that she is hungry because what she had been going through since the death of her son had prevented her from eating. The baker then goes ahead to apologize to Howard and Ann and also tells them his life story. The baker tells them about his loneliness, childlessness, years of doubts as well as limitations and his life working as a baker.

Throughout this time, Howard and Ann eat several rolls and drink coffee as they listen to the baker. Talking to the baker makes them realize they are not alone and that other people also go through difficult times (Bethea 102). This feeling makes them stay with the baker till morning as they do not feel like leaving since they were getting comfort from the baker’s life story. In “Careful”, it is very unlikely that the couple in the book, Inez and Lloyd will not reunite. This story is about Lloyd and Inez who are recently separated due to Lloyd’s drinking habit.

There is a lack of communication between this couple. When Inez visits Lloyd, he says that his ear is blocked and Inez on the other hand, says that they have something to talk about. In the end the two