Christians in the World-6
September 30, 2012
Cathedral
Raymond Carver wrote the short story "Cathedral" about the a couple who has a blind man visiting them. The story begins with the narrator, who is the husband, explaining how the blind man was coming to visit, and how the wife had come to know the blind man, through a job she got reading to him. (The blind man wrote a poem about touching the wife's face. and that's when she left the job.) The narrator explains the suicide attempt of the wife as well, which was summarized on a video and sent to the blind man. Basically, the way these two communicate through video. Anyway. The blind man comes to visit, and the narrator is super bitter and uncomfortable with him being around. Because the blind man's wife just died, however, the narrator tries his best to not be awkward, which was kind of impossible in his case. After they eat, all three go and have drinks and eventually the wife goes up to bed leaving the two men to watch television. When the blind man asks the narrator to describe what is going on on the screen, they finally have their first real, semi non awkward conversation. The narrator describes the Cathedrals that sweep across the screen, and finally, the blind man asks the narrator to draw the cathedral, but with his eyes closed. That's when the narrator changes. (And also when the story ends.)
1.The narrator is really apprehensive about the visit. he asks questions like, "well what will I do with him?" and asks if he can take him bowling. He makes stupid jokes and acts really awkward because he is actually really nervous about how to treat the guy. It is kind of a really awkward situation for him, and he'd rather just not deal with it. It reveals that his character is, not really selfish, but at the some time he is because he wasn't really willing to deal with the awkward situation.
2.I know, at least from like movies and stuff that sometimes when blind people want to "see" something, they touch it to understand it full features, so yes, that is kind of how I saw it in the first place. He was trying to figure out what she looked like. I think because she wrote the poem about him trying to see her, she thinks that writing other poems will allow others to see her also. Poetry could be her way of communicating how she feels, and what she feels could be what she wants people to really see about her.
3.I actually love that line int he story, just putting that out there. But receiving another's friend could be, at least in the context of that line, welcoming them even though you don't exactly know them particularly well, or treating them like a friend for the sake of someone else, even though you may not exactly like them.
4.I think The blind man saw her in his own way. He probably had a picture of her in his mind, but that probably wasn't what she looked like. I don't think you really have to see a person to know them and love them. To see, for me just means that you have the physical ability of vision, as well with to be seen. However, the physical sight of someone isn't the most important part. A young girl could be physically seen around school, but people might not notice the way she laughs at them when they say the wrong answer. The people around might not see the pain the she is going through from a parents divorce. Sight isn't the most important thing when it comes to seeing things.
5. It could reveal that they just wanted to get high? I don't really know. I think they wanted to make the situation less awkward, and so they smoked the weed.
6.Cathedrals are a grad example of the cultures love for God. When I think about churches, I think about the Basilica of the National Shine of the Immaculate Conception. It is large, and beautiful, showing all the wonderful things about saints and God himself. The shrine shows the true love for God that the builders had. if they didn't care about God, it would have shown in the building and creation of the Shrine.
7.Describing a Cathedral is actually a lot harder then it seems. When everyone can actually see what you are describing it, it makes it a lot easier to describe, but because the blind man couldn't see, it made it a lot harder. At the end of the story, the narrator put himself in the shoes of the blind man, by closing his eyes. he had no idea what the cathedral looked like that he was drawing, and wasn't able to describe it. He doesn't see anything, however, he see what the blind man does. Not physical sight, but emotional sight. the sight you see from within...
