Essay on Fiction: Cathedral by Raymond Carver

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Essay on Fiction: Cathedral by Raymond Carver
The narrator in the cathedral is initially unsympathetic to the plight of blind people, but also jealous of the close bond between his wife and Robert, a blind man. When Robert arrives at the narrator’s place, there is an awkward silence between the narrator and Robert. However, after drinking and smoking they two begin conversing as the narrator helps Robert try to understand what a cathedral is as shown by the television (Carver 10-11). Despite being fully sighted the narrator lacks words to describe the cathedral, but then becomes aware of his inability to look more inwards and relate with others. The encounter between the two men is eye opening as the narrator becomes more self-aware.
The narrator has an isolation tendency because of this stereotypes and masculine ego, having already assumed that the blind man would not be great company (Bullock 343). The blind man does not fit the narrator’s stereotypes and he admits to being thrilled about having company. The narrator is a lonely man whose masculine ego does not allow him to express his feelings freely, but as the two men bond, the narrator becomes more forthcoming and learns not to judge people by what you see on the outside. The narrator learns that being empathetic and letting others know how he feels does not show that the narrator is vulnerable.
The narrator is insular and friendless for judging people from the outside rather than getting to know and appreciate them (Nesset 116). The narrator reacts strongly after getting to know that the blind man’s wife and he think that Robert is lonely while his wife was miserable. However, he exposes his fear of intimacy since he cannot understand how Robert’s wife was able to love him, despite being blind. The narrator learns that the blind man lived a fulfilling life as...