1. The first person narrator of "Cathedral" reveals little about himself to the reader. Throughout the story, he chooses the different aspects of his personality, as well as his wife's that he wants his audience to know about himself. He uses very little direct characterization other than things such as when he turns on the TV when they are all sitting in the living room; "My wife looked at me with irritation. She was heading toward a boil" (1084). More commonly throughout the piece, he leaves the reader to infer things about his and his wife's personalities through their actions. First off, the main focus of the book is the wife overwhelming the blind man into their house after he has gone through something traumatizing, which demonstrates her friendly, welcoming personality. Also, throughout the text the narrator is continuously getting himself more drinks, and said things such as "every night I smoked dope, and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep" (1086). This shows his addictive, and harmful personality that seems to be contributing to his lack of interest and friendliness to the blind man. His tone is very straightforward throughout the whole text, and almost informational as if it is from a textbook.
2. Carver's narrator sets the reader up for meeting the blind man by disliking him right off the bat. He says things very straightforward such as, "I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit" (1079), and other things not as straightforward in relationship to the blind man and the narrator's wife, suggesting them to be closer than the narrator was comfortable with them being. My first response to Robert is very different from the narrators, because aside from being lead to dislike him based on what the narrator says about him, I was influenced to like and care for him because of what he has gone through during the past year of his life, as well as how strongly the wife feels about and cares for Robert. In paragraphs 18-44, Carver uses conversation as well as the narrator's private thoughts to show the blind man character and develop the narrator's character. When Robert and the narrator first meet each other, Robert said "I Feel like we've already met," and the narrator replies, "'Likewise'... I didn't know what else to say" (1082). By showing the interaction by the two, it is apparent that Robert is excited to finally meet the narrator in person after having heard so much about him on the tapes, but the narrator does not share the same thrill considering he replies rather half-heartedly. Following that, the narrator's private thoughts develops his character by representing his lack of interest in meeting the blind man. It also reveals a lot about the blind man himself as well because although he can easily infer that he is not really welcomed by the husband, he does not let it get him down.
3. Throughout the story, blindness is seen in many different ways. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is "bothered by his blindness" (1079), which portrays blindness as something that one chooses, simply to inconvenience other people. Then, as the story goes on, when the narrator and Robert are sitting in the living room watching TV together and the wife is sleeping on the sofa, "she'd turned to that her robe had slipped away from her legs, exposing a juicy thigh. I reached to draw her robe back over her, and it was then that I glanced at the blind man. What the hell! I flipped the robe open again" (1086). Although either way the blind man could not see the wife's leg, it shows a lack of respect people who can see have for people who are blind. The proper thing to do, no matter who is in the room, is to cover up the wife's thigh. Finally, at the end of the selection, the narrator is learning and amazed by the blind man, and begins to understand the life of being blind by becoming more knowledgeable as a result of communicating with the blind man.
5. I think that Carver withholds the specific information of what the narrator's epiphany at the end of the story to let the reader think and conclude their own personal opinions of what they think a blind man can teach a man who can seen. The other information that is withheld from the reader is what the narrator does with his life after finally meeting the blind man, is he changed for good? Does he have a new respective on life? Is he changed for the better?
6. Based on the characterization of the relationship between the narrator and his wife, I believe that Carver does judge them. He adds many excerpts specifically to describe their relationship, but does not describe it/them in positive ways. For example, when describing their dinner, it is very boring and uncommunicative, "We didn't talk, we ate" (1084), then excess number of drinks they had throughout the night and neither of them seemed to realize how much they were drinking, and her casual reaction to him smoking dope in the living room, and then proceeding to smoke with him. I do judge them, because they are unaware of the life their living, their relationship, and their spouse, which I believe is destructive to not only themselves and their own environments, but to their respective other and their way of life as well.
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