How does Raymond Carvers `Cathedral` position `the other person,` the blind man, at the heart of the narrators development?

(Carver

The narrator notices Robert 's ease of eating , drinking even smoking with interest , almost as a pathological study of his sightlessness , which is frowned at by his wife

It is the conclusive segment of the narrative which brings out the interesting one-on-one interaction of the narrator and Robert in the absence / unawareness of the narrator 's wife , the final role reversal of the seeing man guided by the unseeing person which puts the narrator in the shoes of the blind man and therefore gives him an in-depth insight into the

situation of Robert . It is with the blind man as foil that the narrator 's character is given depth and relief - beside Robert , he seems a dry humorless individual , often insensitive , with no interest in poetry , stuck in an unhappy job situation , bored most of the time couched in front of the T .V . without really `seeing ' anything . Even significant events and emotions of his wife 's life fail to pique his interest . Robert had adjusted his lack of sight with an intensified ability of hearing - I got ears (Carver . When Robert asks him to recount the features of a cathedral for him , the narrator realizes his lacuna of vision , even in the physical presence of sight . I stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV . How could I even begin to describe it ? But say my life depended on it . Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else (Carver

He starts to hesitantly describe the structure and then proceeds to draw it , with Robert 's hand overriding his , trying to concretize the image for the blind man 's benefit . It is at this juncture , the question looms large : who is the blind man ? Is...