The Most Effective Literary Element in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral Essay Example

narrator’s wife had physical contact the narrator doesn’t seem to realize the emotional effects this had on his wife, for to her, Robert really was “seeing” her for the first time but for the narrator it was just another man feeling up his wife.

This naive jealous attitude clouds the narrator’s views of through his first encounters with Robert. Instead of recognizing that his wife has told Robert about him throughout the years he waits “…in vain to hear my name on my wife’s sweet lips: “And then my dear husband came into my life” – something like that. But I heard nothing of the sort”(1160). The Narrator sees every aspect of Roberts’s life in a negative discriminatory way.

The fact that he is visiting them shortly after the death of his wife only fuels the fire of the narrator’s endless list of criticisms.At first the narrator is offended that Robert’s wife was an African American, “Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman. ” (1157) but then he chooses to focus his negativity on the poor soul that had to go through life married to this blind man. “…I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led” (1158). After nitpicking at Robert’s personal life the narrator is so fortunate to actually meet Robert, now he can begin criticizing his physical attributes. “This blind man feature this, he was wearing a full beard.

A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say” (1158). “I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair. (1159). As the night goes on and numerous drinks are

distributed the narrator’s wife finally falls asleep leaving Robert and the narrator alone to watch television.

To me this was the key point in which the narrator starts to accept Robert and finally starts his transformation. “That’s all right,” I said. Then I said, “I’m glad for the company. ” And I guess I was” (1162).

The men start to watch a show on cathedrals and after a short discussion on what they know about cathedrals Robert asks the narrator “…maybe you could describe one to me? I wish you’d do it. I’d like that” (1164). The narrator agrees and after some labored explanations the narrator looses faith in his verbal description and apologizes to Robert. “I’m Sorry, but it looks like that the best I can do for you, I’m just no good at it” (1164). After more excuses and with some encouragement and instructions from Robert, the narrator goes upstairs and retrieves a pen and some heavy paper.Robert and the narrator sit down and begin to draw a cathedral together so the narrator would be able to show Robert what a cathedral looked like instead of trying to describe it.

At this point he is introduced into the blind man's world and begins to see what it is like for him to have no sight. This allows the narrator to step outside of his own boundaries and free himself of the ignorant world in which he has been living. (wikipedia). At the end of Cathedral one can more or less assume that the narrator has moved on from his predjudices against Robert and now appreciates him.The narrator realizes just because Robert is blind he

isn’t limited in life experiences and now the narrator is able to feel life the way Robert does. “My eyes were still closed.

I was in my house. I knoew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. ‘It’s really something,’ I said (1166). Works Cited: Frank Madden. Exploring Literature Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay.

New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Wikipedia. “Cathedral (story). ” 3 October 2008: 1-3. 1 October 2008 http.

//en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/Cathedral_(story).