Cathedral by raymond carver

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

The short story Cathedral ' written by Raymond Carver first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly ' in March , 1981 . The story tells about a marriage couple from Seattle and their complicated family relationship Thesis The theme of complicated family relations and misunderstanding between the husband and wife is described through symbolism and emotional tension dominated in the story

Tension is caused by emotional blindness and egoism of the husband ruins happy family life and hopes of both spouses . Carver portrays that marriage life does

not meet expectations of the wife and the husband and it seems impossible to live any longer suppressed by misunderstanding and egoism . Complicated family relationship between the husband and the wife are caused by psychological problems of the husband . The Cathedral ' stands that the marriage union , which exists without love is near to ruin . It should be noted that the husband pays a particular attention to his wife , but the readers feel that it is not love . Cravens depicts the situation typical for many families where the duty of the wives is to cook and their husband , but the husbands do nothing to help their spouses , except get dead drunk . On the other hand , it is possible to say that this situation is caused by absence of love between the spouses , where both of them are trying to find a relief in isolation and drinking , or suicide . For instance , when the wife is cooking her husband says that 'if you love me ' she said 'you can do this for me If you don 't love me , OK (Carver 2 . It is evident that the wife is unsure whether her husband loves her or not . Carver underlines that the wife and husband live in different worlds

The minor theme of alcoholism adds emotional tension to the story . The main problem is that the narrator of the story drinks too much and unable to communicate with his wife adequately . Cravens depicts that alcoholism of the husband ruins warm and friendly family relations and results in isolation of both spouses . Describing this situation the author uncovers the reality of life stated that marriage cannot be happy without mutual communication and understanding . The psychological problems caused by alcoholism are isolation and inability to understand others (the blind man , and even feel sympathy to a dear person (his wife . For instance , Cravens depicts that when the wife has tried to commit suicide her husband could not say more than "But instead of dying , she got sick . She threw up (Carver 2 . This remark shows his emotional paralysis and apathy towards his wife . It is evident that there is no close connection between them , as the marriage couples should have , and this very distance feels through the whole story . The theme of loneliness and isolation in the Cathedral ' explained by the status of the marriage people coming from different backgrounds . The husband prefers to distance himself from his wife story , which shows that he doesn...