Author Raymond Carver. `Cathedral` in Litreture fifth edition ( X.J.Kennedy and Dana Gioia).

Raymond Carver . `Cathedral`

The name of the main character is Bub . He is insensitive , arrogant and insolent person . He is also lonely and aloof . He is inarticulate and lacks self-awareness . His wife is a sensitive , courteous and generous character who writes a poem every time something important happens in her life . She has an unpleasant past , a broken marriage , a suicide attempt and it is apparent from the story is that she does not have an ideal marriage with her current husband . She has a close relation with Robert , with whom she

has shared the experiences of her life . The name of the blind man is Robert . He is an open-minded , easy going self-sufficient , confident and trustworthy individual

The setting of the story is the narrator 's home , middle class background . There is a porch leading to the living room . Much of the action takes place in the living room except the dinner . The point of view is of the first person narrator . It tells us about what is going on in the mind of the narrator and his feelings . It also tells us what he thinks about the situation and the other characters in the play . A very close friend of the narrator ' wife arrives at his home to spend the night . He is the blind man . Recently he is also dealing with grief having lost his wife . He helps the narrator realize the freedom of expression , while guiding him in drawing a Cathedral . He makes him feel something new , the feeling of being blind

Initially the narrator is uneasy with the idea that the blind man is coming to spend the night in his house . When Robert arrives , he does not give him a proper welcome . His hostility is rooted in the Robert 's association with aspects of his wife 's past . However gradually he feels comfortable in his company . While watching a programme on Cathedral there is a transformation in the relation between them . Together they draw the form of the Cathedral and help each other in understanding the majesty and the spiritualism associated with it . There is a change in his style in the sense that the pessimism in the story change into optimism in the end . There are tiny details in the story that hook the readers . His characters are average folks but what make the stories readable are their moments of realization . The irony of the story is that Robert , in spite of his blindness had a very loving relation with his wife before she died and presently share a close friendship with the narrator 's wife . He did not allow his handicap to impair the quality of his life . Whereas the narrator who has the gift of sight is not happy with his job , he has no friends and presently does not have a close relation with his wife . A man who was obsessed with his faculty of vision , in the end of the story blinds himself voluntarily to distract himself from the...