Cathedral
Life is a learning experience but sometimes the lessons come from people and places we would least expect them to. This was certainly true for the narrator (who remained nameless) in Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral". A visit from an old friend of his wife's is going to take place. The narrator is not looking forward to it one bit. He is uncomfortable with the whole idea of this man. He dislikes the close connection and communication this stranger shares with his wife, but he especially detests the fact that the visitor happens to be blind. "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to"(38) he remarked. The vehemence of his prejudice is surprising. He was prepared to endure what he assumed would be an unpleasant experience, if only to please his wife. He had no idea that this visitor would have a profound effect on how he saw the world, and would change his view of life, of blind people, and of himself from that moment on. In the story, the narrator's wife tells him that an old friend of hers, who happens to be blind a blind man, is going to come and stay with them. The blind man was someone his wife had worked for one summer in Seattle and has kept in touch with ever since, exchanging cassette tap
The narrator is not looking forward to his arrival and states "I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me."(38) The narrator didn't know any blind people personally, but he did have several stereotypes about what blind people were like in his mind. Most of these pre-conceived ideas came from movies. "My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were lead by seeing-eye dogs"(38) He was really having a hard time seeing how he was going to enjoy this visit. He agreed, however, to be polite and courteous during his stay. Then the blind man tells the narrator to close his eyes and keep on drawing. The narrator closes his eyes and draws blind, saying, "So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing in my life up to now." (48) In this exchange, a miraculous event was taking place. The narrator initially saw himself teaching the blind man a bit about cathedrals, and suddenly realized that Robert was teaching him something much more profound in return. The blind man had created a situation where the narrator was able to move outside of himself in a way, and suddenly he began to really understand more than he ever had about himself and about human communication, and probably more than the blind man was learning about cathedrals. For the first time he was seeing the world in a whole new way, by not seeing it. When they had finished the drawing, Robert told the narrator to take a look at the picture and asked him what he thought. But the narrator was not ready to open his eyes and leave this newly found space. With his eyes still shu
Some common words found in the essay are:
Raymond Carver's, Terrific You're, , blind people, happens blind blind, wife shared, narrator looking forward, narrator wife, bit uncomfortable, life 48, blind blind, narrator looking, life blind, happens blind, looking forward,
Approximate Word count = 1161
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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