What is the message in Cathedral by Raymond Carver?
The main theme of “Cathedral” is that human connection occurs in various forms and degrees. The characters illustrate that people have different ways and abilities to connect and relate to others; some are more successful than others.
What kind of character is Robert in Cathedral?
compassionate man
What kind of person is the narrator in Cathedral?
unnamed man
What is the narrator’s attitude toward his wife in Cathedral?
The narrator is extremely focused on his wife throughout the story, and seems grounded in the role of husband. While he doesn’t seem happy in his marriage, he does seem to love and admire his wife. He tells us the intimate details of her life, but he doesn’t tell us anything that would make us not like her.
What is the significance of the narrator’s decision to keep his eyes closed at the end of Cathedral?
As he keeps his eyes closed, he experiences something of Robert’s permanent condition, and at the same time undergoes a kind of epiphany where he feels that he is not “inside anything.” Ironically, the narrator moves from finding blindness an incomprehensible condition that he mocks to embracing it and finding a sense …
For what reason does the wife keep asking Robert if he’d like to go to bed?
There is another reason the wife keeps asking Robert if he’d like to go to bed: she is displeased that her husband (the narrator) is sharing dope (cannabis) with Robert: My wife came back downstairs wearing her pink robe and her pink slippers. “What do I smell?” she said.
What did the narrator’s wife do after the blind man touched her face?
He says that on the last day of her job there, the blind man touched her face and she wrote a poem about the experience. The narrator then describes his wife’s past. She married her childhood sweetheart and became an officer’s wife.
Why does the narrator feel sorry for Beulah?
Perhaps because he knows his wife expects him to feel something, or perhaps in spite of himself, he begins to feel sorry for Robert “for a little bit.” Then he shifts to feeling sorry for Beulah because she “could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one.” The narrator’s shallowness is revealed …
What makes the narrator start explaining what he is seeing on television?
The narrator only begins to describe what he is seeing on television therefore after a number of silent moments on the documentary they are watching.
Would you describe the narrator as an anti hero?
The narrator presents antihero characteristics and is not a hero in the story because he is an ordinary, inglorious man who is extremely jealous and close-minded toward Robert. The narrator had his drink and watched out the window as his wife came out of the car, smiling, with Robert.
Why does the narrator find looking at Robert’s eyes uncomfortable?
They record audiotapes and send them to each other. Of what did Robert’s wife, Beulah, die? Why does the narrator find looking at Robert’s eyes uncomfortable? The pupils roam repeatedly.
What does the narrator learn from his encounter with Robert is the ending convincing do you believe that there will be a significant change in his outlook from this point on?
Is the ending convincing? Do you believe that there will be a significant change in his outlook from this point on? The narrator learns from Robert that it is possible to be able to see without understanding and to understand without seeing.
What does the narrator realize by the end of the story cathedral?
“Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world, and Carver ends the story at exactly the moment when this change flickers in the narrator’s mind. In fact, the narrator’s final words, “It’s really something,” reveal him to be the same curt, inarticulate man he’s always been.
Does our opinion of him change as the story progresses does the narrator develop or change or grow over the course of the evening?
Is the narrator a sympathetic protagonist does our opinion of him change as the story progresses does the narrator develop or change or grow over the course of the evening? NO. The narrator undergoes definite change and growth over the course of the evening.
Why does Robert Call the narrator bub?
Robert’s use of the nickname “Bub” emphasizes the difference in their ages. Robert, in his late forties, is probably 10 or more years older than the narrator. Calling the narrator “Bub” suggests the kind of casual familiarity Robert might have for a favorite nephew or other young person under his charge.
What does Robert Call the narrator?
Robert calls the narrator “bub” to give him a title to remember him by. This demonstrates that even the blind man- who is not capable of matching names to faces- carries the human condition of labeling things because he longs to connect to the narrator.
Why is it significant that he closes his eyes at the height of his epiphany?
When the narrator draws a cathedral with Robert and closes his eyes, he has an epiphany during which he can see more than he ever could with his eyes open. As a result, his description of the cathedral takes on a more human element, which liberates the narrator and allows him to truly see for the first time.
What does the blind man hope to teach the narrator by telling him to close his eyes while he is drawing?
Robert teaches him that he instinctively knows what Cathedrals look like. If he just closes his eyes, relinquishes control, and connects with his memories, he can reach out to whatever and whoever he wants.
What is the narrator able to see with his eyes shut that he Cannot see with them open?
Before the narrator draws the cathedral, his world is simple: he can see, and Robert cannot. When the drawing is finished, the narrator keeps his eyes shut, yet what he sees is greater than anything he’s ever seen with his eyes open.
Why isn’t the narrator happy that Robert is coming?
Robert’s wife has recently died, and he’s coming to visit the narrator and his wife. The narrator isn’t happy about this. He thinks blind people are sad and depressing. She told him she wasn’t happy with her life as an officer’s wife.