Preview

Character Development In Carver's Cathedral

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
401 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Development In Carver's Cathedral
Examine character development as exhibited in one story
The narrator in Carver's "Cathedral" changes his point of viewat the end of the story. In the story, the man is seen with his wife, but has some arguments between each other. The following paragraphs will include the original thinking of the narrator, what is the key point for him to change, and how does he change at the end of the story.
At the beginning of the story, the narrator has his own ideas about things and will not attempt to see his wife's points of view. He felt interested in nothing, even though his wife let him see her romantic poem, he pretend that he understood it. Also, William has problems on trusting people, only reply some simple questions from the blind man as he

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the short story “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, the narrator draws a cathedral with his blind guest and transforms from a narrow-minded, materialistic, and superficial individual to an individual who acknowledges the spiritual aspects of life and the lives of those around him. Before the egoist narrator meets the blind man, Bub is so closed-minded, jealous, and materialistic that he does not want to help someone in need and he does not empathize with the hardships others endure. However, after Bub communicates with Robert and engineers an emotional connection, he is no longer limited by his former characteristics. Through this emotional link, Robert assists Bub in opening his mind to the spiritual world and feeling empathy for others.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    in the poem cathedral by robert carvin the narrator is told by his wife that she is inviting a blind friend over the narrator finds out that his wife has been send audio tapes with a blind man named Robert who she worked for several years ago. at first the narrator was closed minded about the blind man but when the wife bring the blindman from the airport he introduces himself as robert the first thing that came to robert mind was that not what he was expecting a blind man to look like how robert was dressed he was not expecting him to have a full beard and not wear dark glasses.During his visit and dinner, the narrator feels threatened by the relationship his wife and Robert share and he doesn't know why throughout the story the narrator…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    They became very close and told each other every aspect about their lives. Robert eventually married a woman by the name of Beulah who then died of cancer. Robert was visiting his wife’s relatives in Connecticut and was going to visit the narrator’s wife and spend the night. This made the Narrator very uneasy. He mentioned that blind people bothered him and he only saw them in movies. He stated, “The blind moved slowly and never laughed.” The Narrator did not look forward to Robert visiting but he had no choice. Robert came by train and the Narrator’s wife picked him up. When he arrived at the house he met the Narrator. They then had drinks followed by dinner. After dinner they all gathered around the TV. The Narrators wife went upstairs to put on her robe. The Narrator then offered Robert some marijuana and he accepted. At this time the wife returned and smoked with them, soon after she fell asleep. The Narrator and Robert started watching a show on Cathedrals. Robert asked the Narrator to describe to him what a Cathedral looked like. Unfortunately, he could not. The Narrator tried to explain it but was at a loss of words.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace”, (Dalai Lama XIV). This quote relates to the narrator in Raymond Carver’s short story, “The Cathedral”. In this story Bub’s ignorance is shown in various parts throughout the story. Towards the end of the story, Bub has an epiphany. This makes him realize how ignorant he’s been towards his wife as well as Robert, her childhood sweetheart and present day best friend. He enters from a world of insecurities to a world of peace.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning, the narrator implies he is close minded and insensitive. He begins by stating, “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (34). (Insert fact about social awkwardness around people with disabilities.) The narrator implies also cruel by stating to his wife that he should take the blind man bowling. From the beginning of the short story, the superficial narrator sees people from how they appear on the outside instead of valuing the person’s inside. The drawing of the cathedral marks the climax in the story because it is when the narrator has an epiphany and becomes enlightened. He states with a different perspective, “It was like nothing else in my life up to now” (46). The narrator is compelled to realize what it is like to truly have sight and also distinguishes how to relate with the blind man.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the reading of Cathedral by Raymond Carver (1981), the narrator is noting us of a visit his wife and him are expecting. It is an old friend of his wife, a blind man. As the narrator initiates the story, he lets us know that he “wasn’t enthusiastic about…” (Carver 1) this”…visit” (Carver 1). It seems he exaggerates as he gives us detail of how the blind man touched his wife’s face with his hand. Making us aware of his jealousy, he brings to notice the constant conversation the wife has in regards to her blind friend, Robert. As she mentions the blind man with honor and excitement, it annoys the narrator and tense moments are brought between them. The wife, completely aware of the narrator feelings, is irritated by his comments and reactions.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raymond Carver, Jr. was an American short story author and poet. He was born in 1938 and died in 1988. He was married twice, struggled with drugs and alcoholism, and was an unsuccessful writer early on in his career. It was not until his publication of “Cathedral” that he gained success. Carver even believed that “Cathedral was a watershed in his career, in its shift towards a more optimistic and confidently poetic style” (Arciniegas). “Cathedral” starts out slow, spending most of the short story on the back story of the narrator’s wife and a blind man. The story progresses with the three characters doing mostly everyday things, eating, talking, and drinking. While this happens, the narrator’s ideas of the blind are challenged little by…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He thinks to himself, “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together-had sex, sure-and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamn woman looked like. It was beyond my Understanding.” (Carver 35). In this quote the narrator doesn’t understand that even though Robert had never “seen” his wife that he was able to get an idea of what she looked like by feeling her features. The blind man also is also able to look past someone’s appearance and get a first impression by the way someone talks to him rather than their skin color or the way they dress. In a way the narrator is blinded from who people really are because he is a sighted person. Another example of his incompetence is when Robert starts to smoke and the narrator thinks, “I remembered 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 that much and that much only about blind people.” (Carver 36). This is a prime example of how the narrator is ignorant because people do not smoke so they can see themselves exhaling smoke. This is where Robert starts to teach the narrator about blind people and their…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is evident in the narrator’s reaction, through Carvers writing, when he is informed that the blind man was coming to stay with them. Rather than reacting with a false guise of comfort, he instead replies sarcastically saying, “Maybe I could take him bowling,” (3) knowing full man the blind man couldn’t even see the pins, ball, or lane he would be playing in. This sarcasm extends from discomfort, and the narrator’s unwillingness to want to deal with the blind man’s presence. The narrator had never even met the man once in his life, and yet here this blind man is coming to live in his house, eat his food, and sleep in his bed. He does not pretend to be okay with this simply because his wife knew the blind man for so many years.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    While Robert was on his way to visit them, the narrator and his wife were talking about what to do when Robert gets here and that wife was telling the narrator to be nice when Robert gets to the house. The narrator told his wife that he would take him Bowling and the wife analyzed the narrator and stated “If you love me,” she said “you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable”(page 105). This shows that the narrator wife wants him to do something for her and that when the blind man gets be nice and that she would welcome his friends if they came over she would show them a good time. Also when Robert finally came to the house Robert welcomed him to his home and led him a hand with his bags and takes his hand and shows him around the house by describing it. Later then everybody sat down and he offered Robert a drink and also he turned on the TV for Robert to listen to. The narrator loves his wife and he knows that Robert and hers had friendship in the past made the narrator jealous before Robert arrived at the house, but he decided to be nice and show him a good time to make his wife…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first change in character of the narrator comes when he has to deal with the tragic death of his daughter. His daughter who’s name happens to be Grace was especially hard for him to deal with as it was unexpected and there was no way he could have stopped it. Grace’s death is also symbolic to the death the narrator’s sense of grace. The narrator begins to have feelings of regret for not being there more…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It took a blind man to help the narrator to actually see. In “Cathedral” what is known as looking is physical vision, but in order to really see, it requires a stronger and deeper involvement. The narrator is only seeing through his eyes and is not looking at the bigger picture. Robert however, has the ability to “see” in a deeper level. Even though Robert can’t physically see the narrator’s wife he understands her more because he listens. The narrator had to go through lack of intimacy while dealing with jealousy and having lack of communication with his wife before one person could help him accept and understand life as he should. The narrator learns that the ability to really see involves more than just…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cathedral

    • 787 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Both men’s relationship with the narrator’s wife is out looked as two different entities. Between Robert and wife, there is a deeper meaning between their friendships. The narrator wife emphasizes, “goddamn it, his wife’s just died! Don’t you understand that? The man’s lost his wife!” (108). Roberts’s wife ironically dies short after we’re introduced to her. He takes the opportunity to visit the narrator’s wife. The blind man is a Christ figure in the story and he saves their relationship by showing Roberts as an understanding and sociable person; which is how he redeems himself through interaction. The husband is given a new perspective in life for the better. The narrator and his wife’s marriage seems headed for a downfall. At the beginning of the short story, the narrator states “Maybe I could take him bowling” (107); however, as the story progresses he comforts his wife indicating, “It’s all right” (115) when the blind man and him are drawing the cathedral. The narrator makes an indirect rude comment regarding Robert. As the husband transcends his ego, his tone changes and we see a softer side of him. He starts to respect the people in his household.…

    • 787 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the nameless narrator, the main character develops emotionally through a situation that creates fear in an already introverted man. He does not want to go outside of his comfort zone and he is caught off guard when he is forced beyond his current developmental state. But, through a lesson from the blind narrator finds himself enlightened to the sentiments of the handicapped.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raymond Carver's Cathedral

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In life people demonstrate many characteristics which make that person who they are; while these characteristics define the actions made by people, they also help others to determine why such actions were made, while also characterize them for what that person has done or will do. In today’s society certain characteristics are viewed in a negative light due to the changing ways of everyday life and increasing deviation of traditional American views to ones of a more liberal nature. In “Cathedral” Raymond Carver writes of a man who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, which creates psychological distance from the narrator, his wife, and the blind man. This is caused by the narrators need to escape reality and enjoy a world that is not his own.…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays