Cathedral

In Raymond Carver’s, Cathedral, the reader gets a glimpse into one man’s self-consciousness towards one of his wife’s dearest friends, a blind man named Robert. Robert recently lost his wife to cancer and turns to his old friend for condolence and comfort. Robert and the wife have been close friends for ten years by staying in touch through tape recordings. The two friends trade off sending each other tape recordings about their thoughts, interests, and lives. In the story it had been ten years since the two friends had seen each other. The wife was anxiously awaiting Robert’s arrival. However, her husband was skeptical of having a blind man in his house. This initial concern of the husband allows him to come to terms with his comfort levels and his ability to accept differences in people. The husband takes the entire night to realize the wrong in his predetermined decisions, but he finally concludes that blindness should not be a block in any relationship.

The title of the short story, Cathedral, can be viewed as a metaphor for brining people together. In an actual cathedral people are united through her beliefs and religious views. People who may otherwise not socially gather or unify, as a result of their dissimilarities, are brought together. The people see each other on the same level and are able to connect through a common understanding. This parallels to Robert and the husbands endeavor to draw a cathedral together. Originally the husband attempts to describe a cathedral on his own but the two men can not find a common understanding through this method of sharing. Robert suggests that the husband draws out a cathedral on paper so that he can feel the motions of the pen. Robert holds his hand on top of the husbands as the husband becomes entranced with his drawing. The husband finds himself in a whole new state of mind as his drawing continues to flow from his hand. Robert follows along and touches the entire drawing when the husband completes it. The drawing of the cathedral is what finally connects the two men and allows them to understand each other. The cathedral, in both terms, serves as a figure for uniting people. The husband was very critical of the blind man and somewhat uncomfortable with his presence until he is able to understand his condition through the drawing.

The final lines of the story read as follows: ‘“Well?” he said. “Are you looking?” My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything. “It’s really something,” I said.’ These lines inform the reader that the husband has become disconnected with his previous feelings towards the blind man. The husband is aware that he is physically in his house but he feels as though mentally he has been taken somewhere else. This can be interpreted to say that the husband has seen the real person within Robert and the husband knows that he now has a whole new feeling within himself. The husband knows that the drawing he drew is “really something” without even looking at it because he believes that it must be influential because it gave him his entirely new feeling and outlook. The story ends with the reader feeling happy that the husband was able to look beyond Robert’s disability and form a connection with him. The drawing of the cathedral allowed the husband to comprehend Robert’s condition and react with sympathy and kindness. (597).