Cathedral Blindness of the Non-Blind Essay - 1239 Words

Prejudice is an issue that is present in communities around the world due to diversity in race, religion, sexual orientation, lifestyles and physical disabilities of others as well. However, sometimes it just takes a life changing moment for one to realize that he or she should not discriminate against others just because of their appearance or beliefs. In the story â€Å"Cathedral†, author Raymond Carver writes about a man who is prejudging towards his wife’s blind friend, Robert, who will be visiting the couple. At first the narrator, or â€Å"Bub† as Robert nicknamed him, does not like the idea of Robert staying there because he is blind. Once Robert arrives, â€Å"Bub† does not really make an effort to get along with him; they had dinner together†¦show more content†¦By saying that his idea of blind people came from the movies shows that he probably has not had any real life encounters with a person who is blind, therefore the only idea he has of blind people are the kind that are portrayed in movies. However, by saying that blind people â€Å"never laugh† and â€Å"move slowly† makes them seem dysfunctional as human beings. Blind people cannot see, but that does not correlate to how quickly they move. By saying that blind people move slowly, that indicates that they are â€Å"disabled† and not able to keep up at the same pace as others. Not only is the fact that the narrators perception of those who are blind awkward, but it makes it seem as if the blind have their own stereotypes—which is the foundation of discrimination and prejudice. Throughout the middle of the story, the narrator is discriminatory towards blind people but suddenly feels the need to make Robert feel comfortable just because it will please his wife. The narrator and his wife were in the kitchen talking, and then the wife says â€Å"If you love me, you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you have a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable† (116). To show that her husband is still prejudice towards blind people, he replies and says â€Å"I don’t have any blind friends† (116) which gets his wife upset because Robert is her friend. When the narrator says that he does not have anyShow MoreRelatedCathedral684 Words   |  3 PagesCathedral It is an ongoing problem that people are narrow-minded and have preconceptions. It does no one good and is an obstacle in your everyday life. By closing your eyes, the other senses, like feeling, hearing and smelling, tune in and take over. A lot can be learned from these senses and new truths can be unrevealed. In the short story Cathedral, the main character stops his prejudices and sees a new truth. The short story Cathedral takes place in the 1990s in a married couple’s house inRead MoreEssay on The Cathedral by Raymond Carver980 Words   |  4 PagesCathedral is a short story ultimately about enlightment, finding something more meaningful and deeper with in one self. Although from an observing point of view nothing more in the story happens then a blind man assisting the narrator in drawing a cathedral. Although as known, the narrators experience radically differs from what is actually observed. He is enlightened and opened up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience will have a life long effect on him. The reasonRead MoreStereotypes in Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay1335 Words   |  6 Pagesway or another and uses them in social interactions. These generalizations, both positive and negative, about a characteristic(s) of a group (â€Å"Stereotypes) have existed throughout modern and historical societies. The husband in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† interacts with Robert based off of stereotypes formed from social norms and media portrayals of disabled persons. He treats Robert in a negative manner at first relying on those prejudices, but as he comes to know Robert, he re-develops his stereotypesRead MoreThe Cathedral by Raymond Carver1281 Words   |  5 PagesThe Cathedral by Raymond Carver is an exemplar of a literature with the use of realism in which a realistic, non-ideal, ordinary life of an individual is depicted to represent a wider meaning in life or the society. The anecdote is narrated through the narrators point-of-view about a blind man, Robert, who is a friend of his wife. A theme is presented using a foil, Robert, or a character whose traits are ideal and contrast with the protagonists to highlight some qualities in the central characterRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1832 Words   |  8 PagesIn Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, a blind man guides the narrator towards an epiphany: he needs to see situations and people in a deeper way, rather than just from a materialistic point of view. In the beginning of the story, the narrow-minded speaker is originally opposed to having the blind man, Robert, stay in his home. Because the narrator realizes that there is a nothingness in his life, he eventually grows to admire Robert’s ability to have faith in people, relationships, and the world evenRead MoreAnalysis Of Cathedral And A Small, Good Thing 1846 Words   |  8 Pagestwo short stories, â€Å"Cathedral†, and â€Å"A Small, Good Thing† by Raymond Carver we observe how encounters between people of different backgrounds and tragedy can reveal his or her delusion of their current state of mind. People should learn how to efficiently communicate because without it inhibits loneliness, creates a delusion of reality, and causes isolation. Lack of communication results in unhealthy relationships with yourself and with others. In the short story, â€Å"Cathedral† we are introduced toRead MoreSummary Of The Story Happy Endings 2524 Words   |  11 Pageseveryone dies. Throughout the story the unnamed narrator refers to his wife’s guest, Robert, as the â€Å"blind man†. Despite the fact that his wife formally introduces Robert to him, the narrator still continues to refer to Robert as the â€Å"blind man†. The narrator’s refusal to call Robert by his name implies that the narrator feels uncomfortable near Robert, partly because of the fact that Robert is blind. The uncomfortableness between Robert and the narrator creates a relational gap between them. ThisRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Alice Walker, Flannery O Connor, And Raymond Carver1831 Words   |  8 Pagesagainst the conventions of society. Unlike the previous short stories mentioned, â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver explores the relationship not between mother and daughter, but between husband and wife. In Carver’s short story, the husband is the narrator. One aspect of â€Å"Cathedral† that Raymond Carver emphasizes is on the simple human dilemmas. Carver is jealous of the relationship that his wife has developed with a blind man, and not please that he will be staying with them. When they first began datingRead More Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay6977 Words   |  28 Pagesbe a good way to live-in an old house surrounded by a wallquot; (Cathedral 48). Due to a last minute change of heart, however, Meyers chooses to stay insulated in his quot;compartmentquot; and, remaining on the train, reneges on his promise to the boy, walling out everything external to his selfish world, paternal obligation included. Meyerss tendency toward insularity is not, of course, unique among the characters in Cathedral or among the characters of earlier volumes. In Will You Be QuietRead MoreDiscrimination : Discrimination And Discrimination1788 Words   |  8 Pagesdiscrimination is only part of the picture; one must also understand why discrimination occurs. The stereotype priming effect offers an explanation to this important question (Verhaeghen, Aikman, and Gulick 501). This effect occurs when reaction times for non-stereotypical word pairings are different from those for stereotypical word pairings. A faster reaction time for a stereotypical word pairing implies that the individual holds some amount of prejudiced beliefs. The simple theory behind this effect