Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay - 955 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;As with many short stories, Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† only has a few pages to develop his main character and create a scenario he or she must learn from or achieve something from or change because of. In such a short amount of space, word choice is integral in constructing a solid impression of the characters and their personalities in the reader’s mind. Carver’s simple use of language and sentence structure combined with his choice for point of view creates an intriguing tone and believable character interaction. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;This story, written as the thoughts of the narrator, is about an old blind friend of his wife’s coming to visit for the first time. The story focuses on the†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’m saying that at the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said goodbye to him married her childhood etc., who was now a commissioned officer†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (218). Every time this officer that is his wife’s first husband comes up in the story, the narrator moves on to other subjects quickly. This reveals a jealousy in him that is not plainly written in the story. It allows the reader to learn about the narrator as he sets up the story. Because of this set up, the reader is able to expect and easily see the narrator’s jealousy as he is later introduced to the blind man. He also omits names. The reader never learns the names of the narrator or his wife, though she is frequently involved in the story. This allows the reader to focus on essential characteristics of the character. The wife is merely the wife. The blind man is blind. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Choice of point of view can change the tone and entire meaning gained from a story. The tone of this story would have been much different if it were written from the wife’s point of view. She would not have been seen as the static nagging wife stereotype, the husband himself would have probably be viewed as unsupportive and a slacker, and the reader would have gained a better understanding of who this blind man was. However, for the sake of the story, the importance of the blind man is that he is blind. This is what is important to the narrator and this is what theShow MoreRelated`` Cathedral `` By Raymond Carver992 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"Cathedral† is a short story that was written by Raymond Carver in 1981. Raymond Carver is most well known for his short stories and is even an writer credited with reviving the then dying form of literature. A part of a collection of short stories, â€Å"Cathedral† was the last to be published and was included in 1982’s Best American Short Stories. â€Å"Cathedral is different from the other works of Carver due to the humanistic realism that is given to his characters, which had not been seen before in hisRead MoreCathedral (by Raymond Carver)1131 Words   |  5 PagesCathedral: A Lesson for the Ages Raymond Carver s short story, Cathedral, portrays a story in which many in today s society can relate. We are introduced from the first sentence of the story to a man that seems to be perturbed and agitated. As readers, we are initially unsure to the reasoning s behind the man s discomfort. The man, who seems to be a direct portrayal of Raymond Carver himself, shows his ignorance by stereotyping a blind man by the name of Robert, who has come to stay withRead MoreThe Cathedral By Raymond Carver Essay937 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"Cathedral† Born on May 25, 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon, Raymond Carver was destined to be a writer. He was a son of a sawmill worker and grew up working hard majority of his life. He married year after he finished high school and had two children with his wife at the time. He raised and supported his children with normal working class jobs such as delivering, janitorial and gas station services. Carver discovered his interest in writing after taking a creative writing course in collegeRead MoreAnalysis Of Cathedral By Raymond Carver Essay830 Words   |  4 PagesMistakable Judgments An Analysis of â€Å"Cathedral† Raymond Carver wrote a long-lived short story name â€Å"Cathedral†. Where a divorced women remarried after a hard experience to a person who is struggling to accept his wife’s very long relationship with a blind man. Her new husband suspiciousness controls his emotions and draw his thoughts falsely. As her very old friendship was having an unfortunate event that his wife had passed away, he arranged with her a visit to their house, which concerned herRead MoreAnalysis Of Cathedral By Raymond Carver1541 Words   |  7 PagesA New Perspective Everyone at one point has judged a book by its cover. In the short story, â€Å"Cathedral†, Raymond Carver creates a narrator who bases off ideas and assumptions about blind people from movies. The narrator has never interacted with a blind person before the day where his wife invites her friend, who is named Robert, to stay. The narrator and Robert have never met, but the narrator has a strong dislike towards Robert before meeting. The narrator’s closed-mindedness and misconceptionsRead MoreEssay on Cathedral by Raymond Carver1290 Words   |  6 PagesThe story of Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, shows that you do not have to see someone or something in order to appreciate them for who or what they are. It is about a husband, the narrator, and his wife who live in a house. The wife, whose name they do not mention, has a very close friend who is blind. His name is Robert. Roberts wife dies, and comes to their house to spend a couple of days with the narrator and his wif e. The narrator, whose name they do not mention as well, is always on edge becauseRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1097 Words   |  5 PagesSeptember 2015 Cathedral by Raymond Carver In this short story by Raymond Carver begins with a man whose wife invited a good friend over named Robert and is blind. Before Roberts Arrival, the wife’s husband, whose name is Bub, does not know what to make out of his wife’s good friend Robert coming over to their house. Carver utilizes a story of a blind man who changes Bub’s outlook in life. Through the narrators changing character, theme of loneliness and jealousy, and the cathedral being a symbolRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1696 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: Everyone has ghosts in their closets; something they are running from, or trying to bury alive. Cathedral, written by Raymond Carver, takes place in the early 1980’s. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981. Carver slightly revised the story and re-released it in 1983. At a time when the blue collar working class lived paycheck to paycheck, working hard for newfound luxuries such as color television, this short story is humorous and eye-opening for the reader. For adultsRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s The Cathedral 863 Words   |  4 Pages One of the Raymond Carver story where we can find a lot of religion symbols; it is â€Å"Cathedral.† The story develops an ironic situation in which a blind man teaches a sighted man to truly â€Å"see† for the first time. Near the end of the story, Carver has these two characters work together on a drawing of a cathedral, which serves as the symbolic heart of the story. The cathedral represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The narrator’s drawingRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1340 Words   |  6 PagesRaymond Carver’s characters were considered to be very much like him: â€Å"’on the edge: of poverty, alcoholic self-destruction, loneliness† (Mays 32). His short story â€Å"Cathedral† is about a young couple, who have a visitor coming to stay with them. This visitor, Robert, is the wife’s friend, and he is blind. The narrator, the husband, has never met someone who is blind, was bothered by that. To him, being blind meant constantly needing help from others. His depiction of blindness was what he has seen