Summary of Raymond Carvers Cathedral :: essays research papers

In Raymond Carvers story, Cathedral, the story tells of how a close outside relationship can hazard a marriage by provoking insecurities, aggravating communication barriers, and creating feelings of invasion of privacy. The husband in the story is given the gift of seeing the cathedral done a blind mans eyes. Although the title suggests that the story is about(predicate) a cathedral, it is really about two men who come to pop offher and pct a vision and realize it is he who is blind. As the story begins, the character of the husband has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, is narrow-minded, and is jealous of his wifes intimacy with a blind man named Robert. His constantly complains that a blind man in my house was not something he looked forward to (362). The close outside friendship in the midst of the narrators wife and Robert provokes his insecurities. This friendship has lasted for ten years and during those years, they have exchanged countless tapes regarding expe riences they have gone through. Because of this, her husband feels she has told him everything or it so it seemed (363) about their relationship.Upon the arrival of his wifes friend, the husband is ultimately uncomfortable around Robert because he does not know how to communicate with or act around him. His innervation is revealed when Robert and his wife were sharing their experiences about the major things that had come to pass for them in the past ten years (367). He felt it was necessary to join in because he thought Robert would think he left the room and didnt want his wife to think he was feeling left out (367). It is obvious the husband is overly pertain with Roberts handicap and fails to see him as a person with his own thoughts and ideas.As the story progresses, the husbands attitude towards Robert changes. During dinner, he watched with admiration as Robert used his knife and fork (366) on a piece of meat. As bedtime draws near, his wife heads upstairs, leaving both men alone. The husband begins to flip through take and comes across a program about a cathedral. Robert is unaware of what a cathedral is and the husband is attempts to explain, but has a hard time in doing so. To get a better understanding, Robert suggests that he draws a cathedral while he places his hands on top of those of the husband.