The Theme Of Blindness In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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Raymond Carver who is the author of the short story “Cathedral” is widely known for his writings of common life issues that are seldom perceived. Within “Cathedral”, a blind man named Robert visits an old friend and her husband. The husband, who is the narrator of this particular story tells this story flatly from his point of view. Based on Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the overall theme of blindness is prevalent within Robert’s life as well as the narrator’s because it symbolizes the difference between looking and seeing. With any person who is blind there is always challenges that will arise. Robert, however, does not allow his blindness to inhibit him from building relationships with others. There are several times within this story in which this is portrayed. One instance is when the wife and Robert use tape …show more content…
There is something about how smokers get fulfillment of some sort from watching the puffs of smoke that are released. But since Robert doesn’t have the ability to physically see this why does he still go ahead and do it? For Robert, not everything is about actually seeing things. He has a deeper understanding of things. Because he is blind, his other senses are even more developed. Due to the lack of sight, the other senses of a person are trained to work harder. Towards the end of the story the narrator and Robert were watching the television. There was a particular show on, it was talking about Cathedrals. As the two men sat there together, Robert finally spoke up and asked the narrator to tell him about what Cathedrals looked like. There is a big difference between looking and seeing. Just like the narrator, people tend to just focus on the things they see physically. In other words, they don’t perceive and process the information. When a person truly “sees” they are able to gain a deeper understanding of what is around them and the things that they are experience on a day to day
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