What is the message of the story Cathedral?

The main themes of the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver are perception (looking versus seeing and listening) and relationships (marriage and friendship). These themes are enhanced through motifs like drinking, dissatisfaction, and communication.

What is the lesson in Cathedral?

Cathedral teaches many lessons. While reading, it felt like Raymond Carver meant to teach his readers, that there is good in every situation a person face’s in life. A person may not see the good at the moment; the good will be seen at some point with time.

What does the Cathedral symbolize?

The cathedral that the narrator draws with Robert represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. Before the narrator draws the cathedral, his world is simple: he can see, and Robert cannot.

What does the ending of Cathedral mean?

“Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world, and Carver ends the story at exactly the moment when this change flickers in the narrator’s mind. The narrator has not become a new person or achieved any kind of soul-changing enlightenment.

What is the irony in Cathedral?

Renowned author, Raymond Carver, skillfully weaves dramatic and situational irony throughout his short stories, Cathedral, Neighbors, and They’re Not Your Husband. Situational irony is when the opposite of what is expected to happen occurs. In Cathedral and They ‘re Not Your Husband, situational irony is amply evident.

Why is the story called cathedral?

describe you? Cathedrals don’t make an appearance in this story until the third section, and then it’s fairly obvious why the story is called “Cathedral.” Cathedrals are the subject of the television documentary and of the narrator and Robert’s drawing. A cathedral is a cathedral is a kind of church.

What does blindness symbolize in cathedral?

In “Cathedral,” blindness has a two-fold meaning. It represents both Robert’s lack of sight and the narrator’s more intangible failures of perception: his inability to understand other people’s feelings and his inability to find meaning or joy in his life.

What is the importance of the cathedral in this story why is the choice of a cathedral important as the object the narrator draws?

The narrator gains insight into his own life when he draws a picture of a cathedral with Robert, realizing for the first time that looking inward is a way to gain greater knowledge and a deeper understanding of himself.

What is the main conflict in cathedral?

In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the protagonist undergoes an internal conflict where he is struggling with feelings inside of him, when his wife brings home a blind friend of hers. Central conflict is the driving force behind the story that sparks the rising action and gets resolved through the events of the climax.

How does the narrator convey the idea of a cathedral to the blind man?

The act of drawing a cathedral with Robert with his eyes closed, however, lets the narrator look inside himself and understand the greater meaning. As a result, his description of the cathedral takes on a more human element, which liberates the narrator and allows him to truly see for the first time.

How does Robert surprise the narrator in cathedral?

Robert smokes enough to fill an ashtray. This surprises the narrator because he “read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because […] they couldn’t see the smoke they exhaled” (1.43).

What is the external conflict in Cathedral?

Envy and Jealousy The narrator the husband in the story Cathedral uses emotion as judgment before getting to know Robert’s wife’s close friend she hasn’t seen him in a while. That was because he didn’t known about the visit she arranged it and planned it.

How did the husband change in Cathedral?

The husband is changed when he thinks he personally sees the blind man’s world. Somehow, the blind man breaks through all of the husband’s jealousy, incompetence for discernment, and prejudgments in a single moment of understanding. From the beginning of his tale, the husband is quite bland on the subject of love.

What is the relationship between the narrator and his wife in Cathedral?

Kindness, sincerity, and openness seem like significant character traits of the narrator’s wife. Since she sleeps through much of the present action of the story, the background information the narrator provides is vital to understanding her. If we didn’t have it she’d be a bare sketch.

What is the narrator’s attitude toward his wife in Cathedral?

The narrator is extremely focused on his wife throughout the story, and seems grounded in the role of husband. While he doesn’t seem happy in his marriage, he does seem to love and admire his wife. He tells us the intimate details of her life, but he doesn’t tell us anything that would make us not like her.

What is the blind man’s name in Cathedral?

Robert The blind man
Robert. The blind man. Robert visits the narrator and his wife after his own wife, Beulah, dies. He is a caring, easygoing man who sets even the narrator at ease.

What kind of person is the narrator in Cathedral?

The protagonist and narrator of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a middle-aged unnamed man. Through interior monologue, the narrator shows himself to be cynical and insensitive, especially to the poetry written by his wife.

Who is the wife in Cathedral?

The Narrator’s Wife Character Timeline in Cathedral

Merrigan, Tara. “Cathedral Characters: The Narrator’s Wife.” LitCharts.

Is the narrator wife in Cathedral a dynamic character?

In Raymond Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” the narrator, who remains nameless, tells the story of his wife’s blind friend who comes for a visit. The narrator is a dynamic protagonist that evolves over the course of the story.

What type of character is Robert in Cathedral?

Robert is an insightful, compassionate man who takes the time to truly listen to others, which helps him to “see” them better than he could with his eyes. Robert and the narrator’s wife have been listening to each other for the past ten years through the audiotapes they send back and forth.

Who is the antagonist in Cathedral?

Robert
The narrator, the narrator’s wife, Robert

Again, the narrator is the clear antagonist of the story. He’s his own worst enemy, and has the potential to hurt his wife and Robert deeply at the dinner party.

How did the narrator’s wife meet Robert?

How did the narrator’s wife meet Robert? She was hired by Robert to read to him after responding to a help wanted advertisement.