The Conflict in the Story Cathedral by Raymond Carvers - Essay Example

The Conflict Within in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral One conflict that every person encounters is the conflict with himself. A person struggles with himself if he is afraid to face his faults and weaknesses. Admitting imperfections is usually the way out of the conflict but it is also as difficult as recognizing that the conflict exists. In Raymond Carver’s story titled, “Cathedral,” the main character struggles with an inner conflict which he overcomes through self-awareness and acceptance. With the help of a man whose character is totally opposite his, the main character sees the truth about himself and opens up to achieve self-realization. The angle of narration, characterization and symbolism help to highlight the theme of the story. The angle of narration primarily sets out the origin of the conflict. Narrated in the first person singular, the story is bound to unwind according to the thoughts and feelings of the character. Expectedly, the conflict revolves around him and the way he responds to the conflict leads to the resolution. As the story unfolds, the narrator reveals through his thoughts that the conflict is his own insecurity, which only he can overcome. The conflict is personal; it is within the character. Although it appears that the narrator is too irritated by Robert’s presence, his insecurity is actually what causes his negative feelings. Robert serves as a threat to the narrator. This is so because he and the narrator’s wife have managed to communicate for years through tape records while the narrator finds it difficult to have quality time with her. He expresses, “Every night I smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep. My wife and I hardly ever went to bed at the same time.” The narrator gets into the habit of smoking marijuana because he longs for company. As the wife reveals during their argument, the man has no friends. Unfortunately, while the wife has time to record stories for Robert, she leaves her husband alone in his own world. The insecurity that the narrator feels makes him jealous of Robert. He says, “When I did go to sleep, I had these dreams. Sometimes I’d wake up from one of them, my heart going crazy.” Notice the use of “heart” instead of “mind” which is more suitable with the word “crazy”. This implies emotions over perception. A heart could go crazy because of jealousy or envy. In his case, it can be both. More than this, however, the real conflict is with himself. With the presence of the blind man, he feels ineffective as a husband. Therefore, the comparison between the two characters is used to highlight the theme. The juxtaposition between the two male characters sets the demarcation between them. The narrator is capable of seeing, is married and has a stable job yet he cannot see what is beyond the physical, and he is bereft of love and motivation. In contrast, Robert is blind, lost his wife recently, yet is full of zest. He is alone in life yet is loved and appreciated by the narrator’s wife. He engages the woman into an in-depth communication, something that the narrator fails to do. With the clear difference between the narrator and Roger, the anxiety that the narrator feels becomes worse, hence the conflict within is even more highlighted. The symbols used in the story confirm that the conflict revolves around the main character. The primary symbol in the story is the cathedral. The cathedral, tall and strong, symbolizes the narrator himself or his views in life. Like the cathedral, he is hardened, proud and difficult to explain. When asked to draw the cathedral, the narrator thinks he has very limited knowledge of it because indeed, he does not know himself but when he tries to draw with his eyes closed, he sees his inner self and learns that he is capable of drawing or understanding it. As Bullock (46) argues, the character needs to “draw the line between what is inside and what is outside the cathedral.” This is in order to see the truth. When he attempts to draw, leading the hand of the blind, he realizes what is inside the cathedral, thus he achieves personal growth, saying, “My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (Carver 13). Saying this suggests the feeling of emotional freedom. He recognizes that the same physical aspects around him still exist but his feelings have changed, and so has his view of life. . Drawing the cathedral is thus facing the conflict or the force that impedes his growth. Also, as Robert says, “What’s a cathedral without people?” (Carver 13) Realizing the purpose of the cathedral also lets him realize the truth that he has to let people come into his life to make himself whole. Another symbol that appears in the story is the marijuana. The narrator has made it a habit to smoke pots to forget his lonesomeness. Therefore, the marijuana suggests his insecurity and tendency to avoid facing his problems. He encourages his companions to smoke it because it is his way of winning company. Nevertheless, with the blind man, he attempts to submit to cordiality. By trying to display an acceptable behavior, he submits himself to resolving the conflict within. The inner conflict of the character strongly influences the genre and style of the author. As the conflict is personal, it requires a personal narrative. Shifting to a different narrative angle such as the minor character’s angle or a limited point of view will not help as it will not unravel the events the way the narrator sees them. Without the main character telling the story, the truth about him will not be revealed. Meanwhile, with the presented angle, the readers get a glimpse of who the narrator really is, what his issues are and how he deals with conflicts. In particular, the main character is not really mad at Robert. In fact, he tries to show some respect for the visitor by entertaining him, offering to accompany him to the guest’s room, describing the cathedral with effort, etc. If the inner conflict within the narrator was not present, the story would have been different. An emotionally stable narrator would have accepted Robert with open arms, and the rest of the visit will be smooth-sailing. Likewise, a religious narrator would have a good knowledge of his faith and of cathedrals, thus describing such will not be a burden. Instead of drawing and experiencing bliss in the discovery of truth, the narrator will just go to sleep after watching TV and everything will end up naturally. Other sources of potential conflict include the personal reflections of the character. If the narrator voiced out all his personal views, there would have been a different ending. He would have driven the other two characters together. Robert will be leaving with his wife. After all, the couple does not have any children, hence there is less trouble in parting. Nevertheless, part of the narrator’s personality is his shallowness. This is the reason behind his inability to communicate deeply with his wife. This shallowness is depicted in the way he narrates the story. Noticeably, the narrator focuses on events and very seldom talks about thoughts and feelings: We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn’t talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed the table. We were into serious eating. The blind man had right away located his foods, he knew just where everything was on his plate. I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork... (Carver 6) The paragraph is filled with verbs instead of adjectives. This shows that Carver focused on the actions instead of descriptions of thoughts and feelings. This structure allows a minimalist view of the personality of the characters. Minimalism, as Herzinger (qtd. in Decker) defines, “positions the reader directly across the table, at eye level, where communication is most likely". In the story, Carver avoids providing a poignant narration that could appeal to the aesthetic sense of the readers. Such style confirms that Carver employs minimalism. The conflict of the story is its most important feature. Without it, the story would have been different. The main reason for this is that the characters behave in relation to the conflict. Their thoughts, especially those of the main character’s, are aligned towards resolving or making the conflict more complicated. Robert at the first half of the story is seen as the reason for the narrator’s conflict within or insecurity. However, his role changes as he turns out to be the one who leads the narrator towards the resolution. In addition, the wife complicates the conflict by making the narrator feel ostracised. The rest of the elements also support the conflict but are not crucial to the story. The setting, which is the house of the narrator, provides venue for the characters to interact and resolve the conflict. Meanwhile, the plot unravels as the narrator pursues personal growth and truth. Inner conflict can only be overcome through acceptance of truth and open-mindedness. As the story presents, people need to search within and open their heart to the people around them in order to overcome the conflict with themselves. Likewise, as the story illustrates, overcoming the conflict could sometimes require doing what is unusual and seeing things in a different perspective. Works Cited Bullock, Chris. “From Castle to Cathedral: The Architecture of Masculinity in Raymond Carver’s ‘Cathedral’.” 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 March 2015. Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral” N.d. Web. 21 March 2015. Decker, Cristof. “Faces in the Mirror: Raymond Carver and the Intricacies of Looking.” 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 March 2015. Read More