Having Sight But No Vision Often times when people are younger they’re told “you’re hearing me, but you are not listening.” What people don’t realize is that they are looking at how people appear to be and not seeing a person on a deeper level, which is reflected through the narrator in “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver. The character that stands out the most is the narrator. Even though the narrator isn’t actually blind, he lacks awareness that makes him more blind than the actual blind person in the story, Robert. The narrator begins talking about how he knows what a blind person is like from the movies he has seen. Blind people to him “moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs” (Carver 200). As the story
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When the narrator's wife falls asleep it leaves the narrator nothing else to do other than actually talk to the blind man. The blind man and the narrator are watching TV and the blind man asks the narrator to describe the cathedral that was on the TV. The narrator begins staring “at the cathedral before the picture flipped” (Carver 208), trying to get one last look before he embarrsses himself trying to explain it by only being able to say, “they’re really big” (Carver 208) or “they’re massive” (Carver 208). While explaining it, the narrator realizes even though he is staring at the cathedral and can see it perfectly clear, he somehow still can’t describe what it looks like. This is because he is looking, but not …show more content…
In the beginning when he talks about his wife’s past he does it very bluntly as if he doesn’t care what she went through and just knowing the basics of what happened, that “instead of dying, she got sick” (Carver 201). This seems that he doesn’t know how his wife was feeling through the process, which provokes some jealously when he talks about how his wife sends tapes to the blind man and tells him “everything , or so it seemed to [him]” (Carver 201). When his wife tells him the blind man was coming to their house all he thinks is “a blind man in [his] house was not something [he] looked forward to” (Carver 200). This shows he doesn’t really care about what role Robert might have played in his wife's past with her suicide attempts and divorce, and that he doesn’t respect his wife in a way to just be inviting to her friends. When talking about Robert’s wife, the narrator had nothing to say but negative things, how “he never even knew what she looked like, and she on an express to the grave” (Carver 202). While the blind man couldn’t see his wife on a physical level, he could see her on a personal level, which the narrator couldn’t see his wife on. It is said that once a person loses one sense, it enhances their other senses, which Robert could do: he would listen to the narrator's wife, unlike the narrator would. Although the narrator could see his wife, that doesn’t mean he knew her
When the narrator's wife falls asleep it leaves the narrator nothing else to do other than actually talk to the blind man. The blind man and the narrator are watching TV and the blind man asks the narrator to describe the cathedral that was on the TV. The narrator begins staring “at the cathedral before the picture flipped” (Carver 208), trying to get one last look before he embarrsses himself trying to explain it by only being able to say, “they’re really big” (Carver 208) or “they’re massive” (Carver 208). While explaining it, the narrator realizes even though he is staring at the cathedral and can see it perfectly clear, he somehow still can’t describe what it looks like. This is because he is looking, but not …show more content…
In the beginning when he talks about his wife’s past he does it very bluntly as if he doesn’t care what she went through and just knowing the basics of what happened, that “instead of dying, she got sick” (Carver 201). This seems that he doesn’t know how his wife was feeling through the process, which provokes some jealously when he talks about how his wife sends tapes to the blind man and tells him “everything , or so it seemed to [him]” (Carver 201). When his wife tells him the blind man was coming to their house all he thinks is “a blind man in [his] house was not something [he] looked forward to” (Carver 200). This shows he doesn’t really care about what role Robert might have played in his wife's past with her suicide attempts and divorce, and that he doesn’t respect his wife in a way to just be inviting to her friends. When talking about Robert’s wife, the narrator had nothing to say but negative things, how “he never even knew what she looked like, and she on an express to the grave” (Carver 202). While the blind man couldn’t see his wife on a physical level, he could see her on a personal level, which the narrator couldn’t see his wife on. It is said that once a person loses one sense, it enhances their other senses, which Robert could do: he would listen to the narrator's wife, unlike the narrator would. Although the narrator could see his wife, that doesn’t mean he knew her