Cathedral Written by Raymond Carver - Essay Example

The short story “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver first appeared in the “Atlantic Monthly” in March 1981. the story tells about a married couple from Seattle and their complicated relationship. The research paper will discuss the status of marriage in the short story through the analysis of the marriage relationship, and the role of husband and wife in it.
Very often married life does not meet the expectations of the wife and the husband and it seems that it is impossible to live any longer. In this very situation, both of them need a helping hand but the question is “Do they often strong enough to understand it or continue to live in a world full of ignorance”

The story depicts a complicated relationship between the husband and the wife caused by the psychological problems of the husband. The main problem is that the narrator of the story drinks too much and is unable to communicate with his wife adequately. Cravens depicts that the alcoholism of the husband ruins warm and friendly family relations and results in the isolation of both spouses. Describing this situation the author uncovers the reality of life and stated that marriage cannot be happy without mutual communication and understanding. The psychological problems caused by alcoholism are isolation and inability to understand others (the blind man), and even feeling sympathy for a dear person (his wife). For instance, Cravens depicts that when the wife has tried to commit suicide her husband could not say more than: "But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up" (Carver 2). This remark shows his emotional paralysis and apathy toward his wife. There is no close connection between them, as married couples should have, and this very distance feels throughout the whole story. The theme of loneliness and isolation in the “Cathedral” is explained by the status of the marriage of people coming from different backgrounds. The husband prefers to distance himself from his wife's story, which shows that he doesn't care about her at all. These instances suggest that the couple doesn't love each other enough, leading the reader to think that the marriage is unhappy, because of loneliness the wife has tried to commit suicide seeing no way out.

The “Cathedral” stands that the marriage union, which exists without love, is near to ruin. It should be noted that the husband pays particular attention to his wife, but the readers feel that it is not love. Cravens depicts the situation typical for many families where the wives must cook and please their husbands, but the husbands do nothing to help their spouses, except get dead drunk. On the other hand, it is possible to say that this situation is caused by the absence of love between the spouses, where both of them are trying to find relief in isolation and drinking or suicide. For instance, when the wife is cooking her husband says that: ”if you love me,' she said, 'you can do this for me. If you don't love me, OK'" (Carver 2). The wife is unsure whether her husband loves her or not. It is depicted that the wife and the husband live in different world frames.
Taking into account the title of the story it is possible to draw a parallel between the “Cathedral” and marriage. Cathedral is a symbol of marriage consecrated by the church, which should be happy and full of love and understanding, but in contrast to this fact, Cravens portrays an unhappy one that is far from an ideal union between a man and a woman. Read More