Blind Buddies The central idea of Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is that the most unlikely of people can teach someone the most unlikely of things. The narrator's wife invited her friend, Robert, that was blind over to spend the night. The narrator was awkward with Robert because his idea of blind people came from movies. The narrator and Robert bonded when the narrator drew a cathedral for Robert. Even though he wasn't blind the narrator, we're gonna call him Bub, appeared to be because of his lack of insight. Bub was unable to to read people easily and this led to his insensitivity toward people's feelings. He was even this way with his wife. An example was when Bub asked his wife if Robert's dead wife was black. Bub's wife was baffled by the question and asked Bub if he was crazy. Bub told her he was just asking. Bub's character did develop throughout the story. At the end when him and Robert were drawing a cathedral and Bub's eyes were closed, Bub became more empathetic. He was finally able to comprehend other people's feelings.…show more content… Even though he was blind, Robert was able to to see people for who they were. People have said that when someone loses or doesn't have one of their basic five senses the remaining senses become stronger. Since Robert didn't have sight his hearing was better. He took advantage of that and made sure that he listened to all the things people have told him. The main conflict of "Cathedral" was man vs self. Bub's problem was that he had expectations on how everyone was going to act with a blind man in the
