The short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is about a figuratively blind man who receives the gift of sight from a literally blind man. In both stories, the false preconceptions of the world towards disabled people are exposed and the true capabilities of these and many other disabled people are displayed. It is both cruel and unfair to the disabled in the world to be viewed as impotent by the able-bodied and to have to live with the expectations that the able-bodied have forced upon them. Many that are not disabled have false preconceptions about what a disabled person should look like and what they are capable of. Mark O’Brien, a disabled man and also an acclaimed poet and journalist, said "The two mythologies about disabled people break down to one: we can't do anything, or two: we can do everything.
Discovery Within The authors of these two pieces of literature are married. They are both known for their short stories and poems. Raymond Carver, the author of “Cathedral,” shows his writing style through the blind man’s hardships in life and abrupt ending. Tess Gallagher, the author of “Sudden Journey”, shows her intimate, personal style of writing by portraying a little girl and how she feels about the rain. “Cathedral” and “Sudden Journey” both depict transformation; while “Cathedral” shows self transformation through an encounter with a blind man; “Sudden Journey” shows it in a return to childhood.
Robert, an old friend from his wife teaches the narrator a great lesson about life and how “learning never ends.” Robert opens the eyes of the narrator. The short story “Cathedral” is about “the blind leading the blind” in the sense that Robert, a physically blind person, leads the narrator, a spiritually blind person, to a greater understanding about life. One of the reasons the narrator is consider a spiritually blind person is because he displays lack of understanding towards blind people. The reader is able to see that the narrator is prejudice towards blind people. In the story, the narrator says “and his being blind bothered me.” The narrator is a reflection of prejudice and the stereotypes in society.
The dialog was about how the narrator did not have in blind friends and with sarcasm he says, “Maybe I could take him bowling,” (Carver) the author shows the narrator lack of understanding of his wife friendship with the blind man. Maybe because of his limited experience with a blind person and understand where he is coming from. This lack of understand by the narrator gives the reader a little insight on the relationship be him and his wife. Where the husband feels like an outsider when Robert is joined them for the night. Due to the fact, he did take the time to understand his wife and her
The narrator saw the blind man Robert as he thought blind people were because of the stereotypes he has heard on TV. Come to the end of the short story we see that the narrator sees that the blind man is a normal person even with the disability he has the narrator comes to respect him for who he is. When the blind man told the narrator to close his eyes and “see” the world like Robert does and when the narrator did this he took life differently and changed his perspective towards the blind
The Narrator had high expectations of Robert the blind man being “slow” and not “humorous”. When the blind man arrived the narrator could not believe it. “The blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say” (Paragraph 19).
Granny’s hard knock life In Katherine Anne Porter’s short story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” there is a vivid picture of an elderly woman’s last moments and storm of mentality on her death bed. The story is shown as a stream of consciousness in which granny remembers the grievances she had throughout her life. This making it obvious to the reader that she has had not one, or two, but three jilting in her life that has affected her character through the last shreds of her life. Her past love George, the death of her husband John, and the absence of god on her death bed, all affected granny’s life and personality. The first pitiable jilting of Granny Weatherall was done at the altar by a man named George who she once was deeply in love with; this jilting affected her life in many ways.
Leah experiences and travels a painful learning curve to arrive at a place of acceptance, reclaiming a friendship that matters on new terms, and claiming her life after her father’s death. Leah’s struggles are demonstrated by her journal entries which provides us a close look at her own stages of adaptation. By writing this novel as her journal entries also gives us a closer look of strategies and skills Leah develops through out the story to handle with her own grief, to support and create a better relationship with her mother, and to help take care of her father. The descriptions of the changes her father goes through, his sufferings, and visible losses are told with validity, courage, and accuracy. The theme of this story is that when you experience a lost of a love one, you will go through an emotion time in your life.
Cathedral “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver is illustrated on the irony of two men. One with physical sight but is spiritually blind and another which is physically blind but has spiritual insight. The main characters are the narrator and his wife, who are both nameless in the story and the blind man Robert. In the beginning of the story the narrator is nothing but with the help of the blind man he becomes something at the end of the story. The narrator is pathologically jealous, smart, witty, and insecure.
In the beginning of the story the narrator is portrayed as cynical and offensive while with his wife in their home. The story begins with the words “This blind man…” (Carver 1495). Now “this blind man” has a name, and the narrator know what it is, but the tone implied in this word choice immediately tunes the reader into the character of the narrator. This is a person who is judgmental, and lets the exterior of someone define them. To the