Themes In The Cathedral By Raymond Carver - 1158 Words

â€Å"The Cathedral† by Raymond Carver is an eye opening short story which focuses on an unnamed narrator who has a hard time interacting with the world around him, specifically his new visitor. The narrator is the perfect example of an antihero as he is the central character, but does not exhibit heroic attributes. In this first-person narrative, the narrator speaks of when his wife’s old friend, Robert, comes to visit. After Robert’s wife passes on, he stops by the narrator’s house for a night while passing through to visit his family. The theme of the â€Å"The Cathedral† focuses on how although one may be looking, they may not truly be seeing. When analyzing the narrator of â€Å"The Cathedral†, one can see how he exemplifies the themes of the short†¦show more content†¦While the narrator continues this way throughout the story, his possessiveness does begin to halter as he gets to know Robert on a more personal level. Once the c limax of the short story arrives, the narrator’s possessive trait somewhat vanishes as he opens his eyes to the world around him. The narrator is a character who is ignorant. Throughout the story, the narrator demonstrates his narrow-mindedness in many instances – especially when it comes to Robert’s blindness. Notably, the narrator speaks of how his assumptions regarding blindness have been adapted from what he has seen within movies. For much of the story, the narrator continually questions Robert’s abilities due to his blindness. From his choice to wear a beard to whether he will be able to eat his dinner on his own, the narrator comments on Robert’s choices. An example of this takes place when the narrator believes Robert would not smoke due to his blindness. The narrator remembers, â€Å"having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled. I thought I knew th at much and that much only about blind people.† (Carver 107). To the narrator’s surprise, Robert does in fact smoke. The narrator’s ignorance allowed for him to believe blindness would truly affect this in the first place. Furthermore, the narrator’s ignorance is also seen when he questions what Robert was wearing – explicitly his lack of dark glasses. While thinking on the topic, theShow MoreRelatedWhat Is The Theme Of Alcoholism In Cathedral By Raymond Carver1520 Words   |  7 PagesIn â€Å"Cathedral†, a short story by Raymond Carver, an unnamed narrator awaits the arrival of a friend of his wife’s, a blind man named Robert. Robert is stopping by for a visit on the way to his recently dead wife’s relatives. The narrator is not happy about the relationship his wife has with Robert, so he drinks constantly throughout the story. He even smokes marijuana near to keep his mind off of the situation. 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