Intricacies between Cathedral and the Red Convertible - Essay Example

?A Complete Insight into the Intricacies between ‘Cathedral’ and ‘The Red Convertible’ Introduction Literature evidently bears the mark of the age inwhich it is carved. In the theme, plot, setting, style or characterisation, the subtleties of the age finds its place very intricately either in the explicit expression of the writer, or it gets implied through myriad images and symbols woven into the layers of the allegorical plots. The stories ‘Cathedral’ by Raymond Carver and ‘The Red Convertible’ by Louise Erdrich are published at a contemporary time in the years of 1981 and 1984 respectively. These two short stories have evolved out from the minds of two contemporary writers and the theme of both the stories ought to have some coherent connections. But when a comparison is needed to be drawn between these two stories, the expression of the central theme and the stark difference in its presentation is remarkably worth noticing. Both the stories, ‘Cathedral’ and ‘The Red Convertible’ evoke the compassion and feeling of comradeship and brotherhood which often gets lost amid the complexities and subtleties of the post-modern cosmopolitan life. Both these stories echo the fact that amid a self-centred cosmopolitan way of living, it is an unknown thread of love, comradeship and brotherhood that unite the mankind into one string and assemble into a single platform called humanity. ‘Cathedral’ and ‘The Red Convertible’ ‘Cathedral’ by Raymond Carver first appeared in March, 1981 in the issue bearing the name ‘Atlantic Monthly’. Very contemporary to this event, another illuminating story bearing the name “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich appeared in her debut novel named “Love Medicine” in the year of 1984 which contained fourteen stories entwined by common characters and themes. In the short story, ‘Cathedral’, there is a pursuit of happiness found eclipsing the entire plot of the story that arises from the isolation and failure of communication in the postmodern situation. This theme is recurrent in writer’s works mostly and his story ‘Cathedral’ is not an exception in this regard. We are introduced, at the outset of the story, with the anonymous protagonist and the narrator of the story along with his wife whose name also doesn’t appear in the story. The only character in the story is Robert, the blind friend of the narrator’s wife, who bereaved by the death of his wife, comes to stay with the narrator and his wife. There is also the mention of the attempts of suicide that the wife of the narrator undertakes due to the feeling of separation and loneliness. The narrator is not able to communicate with any fellow human being and he is worried about the fact that for a long time his wife and Robert had correspondence through the exchanges of audio tapes. The narrator was never interested in those tapes as whenever he started listening to the audio clippings he could hardly find his mention in the tapes. It is when Robert comes to stay at their home, the narrator could feel the happiness and vibrant side of his wife as she talks and laughs and takes Robert to upstairs’ room with the support of her arm. Initially, the narrator behaves weird which is a common phenomenon for him in the company of any man and he says that he has never seen a blind man before. He also expresses very explicitly that previously he has not seen a blind man drinking or smoking. But after the wife of the narrator goes for a short nap, he is seen to establish a connection with Robert as Robert insists him to tell what was going on in the Television: “I stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV. How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else” (Carver, R. “Cathedral”). Robert is not acquainted with a cathedral and the narrator takes the endeavour to introduce him to the thing. On Robert’s suggestion he holds his hand and closes his eyes and then started drawing the picture of the cathedral unless he stopped at the interruption of the narrator’s wife who was very happy to see that at last, Robert and her husband is able to establish communication between them. Unlike the other stories of the Craver, this story ends with an ambiguous hope where there is a possibility that the narrator would be able to establish a communion with the blind man who actually is helping the narrator to overcome his depression and feeling of loneliness. ‘The Red Convertible’ on the other hand, is a story that has its plot framed within the oscillating movement of time. The story is presented before the readers from the perception of its narrator, Lyman Lamartine who is a member of Chippewa tribe and who lived on reservation. The story is about the kind of bondage shared between the two Native American Indian brothers. The story narrates how the bonding between the Native American Indian brothers changes due to myriad external and internal factors influencing the society during later half of the ’60s and at the threshold of the ’70s. Lyman shares jolly good days with his brother Henry and compassioned by their relation, Henry with a lion’s share contribution, buys a red convertible. The ride on the Olds is not eternal as Henry goes to the Vietnam War and comes back as a very changed person. Like the story ‘Cathedral’, here too the readers can witness that restlessness and impatience observed in Henry like the narrator of the story ‘Cathedral’. In both the stories, the protagonists fail to establish any communion of soul and mind with the people surrounding them and plunge slowly into the unfathomable ocean of loneliness and depression. In the story, ‘The Red Convertible’, Layman is trying to save his brother Henry from the situation of depression and loneliness as Robert does in the case of the narrator in the short story, ‘Cathedral’. But unlike ‘Cathedral’, Layman is unsuccessful in saving the soul and life of his brother. The symbolic deliberate drowning of the Olds is a sort of homage and tribute to the good days and the last attachment with the memoirs of Henry which Layman pushes into the current of the river. Thus, Layman at the lonely shore is left with the realisation that there is no one to empathise with (Erdrich, L., “The Red Convertible”). Conclusion The short stories, ‘Cathedral’ by Raymond Carver and ‘The Red Convertible’ by Louise Erdrich are the stories that celebrate human compassion and empathise with the situation when mind of an individual gets lost in the dark abbey of loneliness and depression with a complete failure of communication and communion. The story ‘Cathedral’ ends on an ambiguous note of hope where as the failure of Layman to save the life and soul of his brother Henry empathise and project the fatal state of human mind in the post-war depression period. References Carver, R. Cathedral. Random House, 2009. Erdrich, L., The Red Convertible. HarperCollins, 2010. Read More