Sometimes in life, people will have to deal with other people that are judgmental and listen to stereo types when they know nothing about the person. In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, there are some examples of stereotyping. This story is about a woman who has a good friend of hers and he is blind. The blind man, whose wife had just recently died and was traveling to go visit his family, was stopping at the women’s house overnight. The blind man and the narrator’s wife knew each other. They met when she saw an ad in the newspaper asking for help, he wanted someone to read to him, a blind man. The blind man and the wife had become really good friends over the years. Once the wife stopped working for the blind man they started …show more content…
The narrator had never meet a blind person before and believed in the stereotypes. The narrator said “A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 331), in the last sentence of the first paragraph. For the narrator, there should be no problem letting a blind man into the house. Throughout this short story the husband continues to make short remarks to the old blind man, as well as keeping a routine for making comments to the blind man. For the reader it is really easy not to pay attention to the story and instantly get annoyed. People can understand the tone by reading what the narrator has to say about the blind man. The narrator explains to the wife that he really did not want a blind man at his house, and won’t know how to act with a blind man. Instead of giving the blind man a chance, he starts complaining. The narrator would make jokes like “what side of the train did you sit on” (Carver,133), not thinking the old man could answer, although he could. The narrator also would stereotype the blind man by saying to himself, “I thought glasses were a must for blind people” (Carver,133). The narrator said he remembered reading that blind people didn’t smoke, which is a stereotype. After reading a little more into the story you can figure out that the narrator didn’t have a name, readers knew …show more content…
In order to understand it in a story you have to know what it means. Style is how the writer writes, and his choice of words. This story is different than most other stories because the narrator did not have a name. The readers did know who he was, but usually the narrators have a name. This short story is particularly short compared to most but it was a good story to help readers understand and identify tone and style. Readers can understand the elements by reading what the narrator has to say about the blind man. He is always complaining about him before the blind man even gets to his house. The narrator in the beginning did not give the blind man a chance before he started judging him. In a world full of negative things, people should give each other a chance to get to know one
Sometimes they were led by seeing- eye dogs” (137). The husband built his idea of blindness from movies and he based it to reality. We call the husband blind because, he didn’t know anything about blind people. Also, the thought the blind people are different from the people who can see. In addition, what explain that the husband was blind, when he asked the blind man foolish question
In both short stories, “Cathedral” written by Raymond Carver and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” written by Flannery O’Connor, we encounter characters that have a limited perspective on life. We find that the unnamed narrator in “Cathedral” has a bias mindset towards the blind man, Robert before he even meets and gets to know him. While in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother is ignorant of her surroundings while being oblivious to her own flaws. Both stories demonstrate the overcoming of blindness through prejudice and vanity to end up seeing something greater than themselves through the use of characterization, symbolism, and epiphanies. In “Cathedral,” the narrator’s wife invites her blind friend, Robert, to stay in their home
From that moment, the narrator show his true side to me. It shows that he doesn’t not care about his wife feeling toward the blind man. After carefully reading “cathedral”, the narrator is jealous of the blind man relationship with his
In one day you will stereotype at least one person in a 24-hour day. In the book Of Mice and Men, stereotyping is a very common theme. It shows how it affects people and changes their point of view about someone. The book has many types of stereotyping; Curley judging Lennie on his appearance, George saying things about Curley's wife, and so on.
In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, it is a story about an interaction between the author, the author’s wife, and the wife’s blind friend, Robert. The blind friend was staying the night at the author’s house and he did not like the idea of it, but since it was his wife’s friend he dealt with it. The author gave characteristics to the blind guy and himself. The author assumed that blind people can’t do anything like a normal person does. The author said that “Did you have a good train ride?’
The narrator pictures the blind as slow-moving and never laughing (34). As he finally meets Robert, the narrator is shocked that the man makes no use of a cane or dark glasses, as he “always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind” (38). Finally, the narrator’s ignorance toward Robert peaks as he asks which side of the train he sat on, because, according to the narrator, “going to New York, you should sit on the right-hand side of the train, and coming from New York, to the left-hand side” (38) to best enjoy the scenery of the Hudson. The jealous mindset of the narrator, however, drives most of his sarcasm and ignorance. One of his initial instances of jealousy occurs as he depicts a moment shared between his wife and Robert.
He doesn’t give us the name of his wife’s ex-husband. The reason why is because the narrator is denying others importance. By doing this the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important by making others not seem important. Which is a factor to his blindness. The narrator’s impoliteness is a major factor of him being blind.
“Cathedral” published in 1983 by Raymond Carver talks about a husband’s change of attitude. I went into detail on the husband’s character changing throughout the story by describing his behavior and actions and focusing on the husband’s comments towards Robert. I also talked about how Robert and the wife do not go into detail talking about the husband because Raymond Carver wants you to fill in the blanks on what you think the husband’s personality is. The husband’s character is easier to understand after he has a couple drinks and is faced with Robert one on one while watching a documentary series on Cathedrals.
The novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton illustrates a theme of stereotyping and its effect on the characters. The protagonist, Ponyboy Curtis is the most affected by stereotyping. Ponyboy is stereotyped as a greaser. He accepts this stereotype, but is negatively affected by it, because society views greasers as poor, bellicose, delinquents from the East Side.
At the end of the night, the TV was on and they were watching the TV talking about different kinds of Cathedral. The narrator can see the cathedral and know how it looks like, but cannot explain it to the blind man. The blind man knows the real definition behind that cathedral by listening to what the tv says. If the narrator actually listens and understand to his wife when she was talking to him what kind of person her friend is he would not have thought about him that way and learn that he was smarter than him.
“His being blind bothered me” (Carver 1). In Raymond Carver’s short story Cathedral, Carver establishes an ignorant narrator, who is dependent on alcohol and fixated upon physical appearance; he juxtaposes the narrator to a blind man who sees with his heart rather than his eyes. Through indirect characterization, Carver contrasts the narcissistic narrator to the intuitive blind man while utilizing sight as a symbol of emotional understanding. He establishes the difference between looking and seeing to prove that sight is more than physical.
The storyteller solicits the visually impaired man what kind from beverage he might want as a gage of his identity. He picks bourbon and the storyteller says "I knew it" as though he had possessed the capacity to peruse the visually impaired man's brain, when in certainty the storyteller has a distorted view of the visually impaired man's real identity. The characters keep visiting and new adjusts of beverages are served as required. The air is agreeable between the storyteller's better half and the visually impaired man, however the discussion still appears to be unnatural and the storyteller learns about left. The storyteller's significant other is making a decent attempt to help the visually impaired man as a result of his debilitation and her friendliness is
In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator struggles with an internal conflict that involves him never being able to be in a vulnerable or sensitive state, especially when he is with his wife. The narrator creates suspense by having the reader wait until the end to realize what the blind man was referring to when he states, “From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude—” (Carver 35). The reader can observe that the blind man was explaining that the husband was missing out on all aspects of life and the little things the world has to offer. The husband was so closed-minded, that he was missing out on having a deeper connection with his wife.
The story revolves around three characters, a husband who is also referred to as Bub, his wife, and a blind man, Robert. The story begins with the wife reminiscing back at the times that she shared with Robert. She continues to talk about how much she enjoyed spending time with him. She talks about how she has kept in touch with him and how she has even written about Robert before. Even though the narrator doesn’t directly state to his wife, he happens to be “irritated” (Facknitz) by the fact his wife tends to have a connection with Robert.
In his contemporary short story, “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver tells the story of an unnamed narrator, his wife, and an old friend, a blind man named Robert. Robert has come to visit the narrator’s wife, who is quite excited to see this man whom she hasn’t seen in ten years, yet the same can’t be said of the narrator who is noticeably and vocally uncomfortable about his visit. The story is told through the narrator’s first person point of view, showcasing his thoughts and the events that take place when Robert comes to visit. Carver highlights the theme of having the ability to see, but not truly seeing, through his use of colloquial language, and creation of relatable characters. “Cathedral” begins with the narrator informing the audience