Cathedral
Blindness creates a world of obscurity only to be overcome with guidance from someone willing to become intimate with the blind. Equally true, the perceptions of blindness can only be overcome when the blind allow intimacy with the sighted. Raymond Carver, with his short story Cathedral, illustrates this point through the eyes of a man who will be spending an evening with a blind man, Robert, for the first time. Not only does this man not know Robert, but his being blind, "bothered" (Carver 98) him. His, "idea of blindness came from the movies", where, "...the blind move slowly and never laughed" (Carver 98). These misconceptions of blindness form barriers between the blind and the sighted. Carver breaks down these barriers as he brings the vastly different lives of these two men together. Those of us with sight find it difficult to identify with the blind. This man, like most of us, can only try to imagine what life is like for Robert. As a result of his inability to relate with Robert, he thinks his behaviors are odd, and is unable to understand the relationship he has with his wife. His wife worked for this blind man many years ago, reading him reports and case studies, and organizing his "...little office" (Carver
98) in the county's social-service department. He remem bers a story his wife told about the last day she worked for him. The blind man asked her if he could touch her face, and she agreed. She told him that Robert had touched every part of her face with his fingers, "...her nose-even her neck!" (Carver 98). His wife wrote poetry whenever something important happened in her life, and she "...tried" (Carver 98) to write a poem about this unforgettable experience. He said he didn't think much of the poem, (although he didn't tell her that), reasoning it was because he didn't understand poetry. In reality though, the act of the blind man touching her face is what he didn't understand. To him this seemed a bizarre encounter. Some people, like his wife and myself, are able to realize how meaningful this experience is. As a child I developed a close relationship with my blind grandmother, similar to that between his wife and Robert. My grandmother would often run her fingers over my face, which would make me feel awkward and uncomfortable at first. As I became an adult though, I began to realize the importance this act held for my grandmother, and eventually for myself. Touching, for the blind, becomes a vital aspect of relating with the world. To touch something is to see it with your fingers. It was my grandmother's way of becoming familiar with me through her hands instead of her eyes. His wife had experienced this emotional closeness with Robert, while he could only try to understand it by hearing and reading about it. Without personally knowing anyone who is blind, the imagination takes over and preconceived ideas are formed. This man had created a picture in his mind of what Robert would look like, and how he would act. When Robert arrived at his house he learned that n
Some common words found in the essay are:
Robert Robert, It's Carver, Cathedral Blindness, Raymond Carver, carver 98, carver 108, robert didn't, robert robert, misconceptions blindness, robert told, told draw, move slowly, continued draw, robert blind,
Approximate Word count = 1201
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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