Interpretation of Imagery and Symbolism in Raymond Carver's 'Cathedral'

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Analytical essay: Raymond Carver’s-Cathedral – Imagery and Symbolism
In Cathedral, the unnamed narrator gives a firsthand account on a blind man’s visit to their home following the death of his wife. Even though, the blind man and the unnamed wife had not each other before, the narrator had not met him and was initially apprehensive of his stay. However, the two bond and try to draw a cathedral as represented by a TV program. Looking and seeing are two different elements in the story, whereby having a physical vision allows the narrator to look. Robert ‘sees’ things despite being blind as he focuses on things more deeply and he has deeper understandings of the surroundings and the people close to him. The cathedral, audio tapes and television are the main forms of symbolism and imagery in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral.
The tapes and TV represent the substitutes of the reality as the narrator constructs his understanding of the world through watching tapes and the TV. The narrator mentions that, “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed (Carver1).” This shows that his ideas about blind people are merely constructed from what the watches as he had never had a close relationship with any one of them. However, the interaction between the two men shows that the narrator’s misconceptions are wrong since they do not represent the real thing to both of them. Human interaction and small talk makes it easier to separate the truth from misconceptions as represented by tapes and the television.
Robert and the narrator’s wife exchanged audiotapes and kept in touch over time. This represents the power of empathy and communication to bring people together despite the challenges that they face. Robert and the narrator’s wife had a closer relationsh...