Cathedral by Raymond Carver: Analyzing the Story’s Depth and Impact

Describing a "Cathedral" Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is a story that illustrates what sight really is. In most cases, blindness means being physically unable to see. In the case of the narrator in "Cathedral" blindness is an affliction suffered from within. The narrator is possessed by prejudice against everyone and anyone he mentions within the story. The characters Bub and Robert make great counters to these two forms of blindness; each character sees and does not see different sides of the people in their lives. The conflict of imagery and understanding that Bub experiences with what he expects to see and what he actually sees beautifully render the true meaning of sight.

During the exposition, Bub had much to say about his wife's history with Robert despite the fact that he has seen so little of his wife's blind friend. The majority of what Bub had to say was very negative. He "...didn't think much of [her poetry]..." (82), and the tone at the bottom of page 82 suggests that Bub was bothered by the tapes her wife and Robert send back and forth. There was a sense of definite hostility when Bub says that after listening to the few minutes of one of the tapes, he had "...heard all [he] wanted to" (83). He doesn't want to know any more about Robert. Bub chooses to keep his view of the man short and narrow.

The hardness in Bub's tone was just the first clue that he views the people in his life through a dark lens. When he recalled the story of his wife's first husband, Bub snapped, "Her officer-- why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?" (82) as if he was jealous about not being first in line to his wife's heart. Bub jumped to the same hostile conclusion when he thought of Robert touching his wife's face. He was appalled by the idea! "She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose-- even her neck!" (81) even though Bub didn't seem to comprehend exactly what that touch meant to his wife or Robert. Beyond his predispositions against his wife's ex husband and her blind friend Robert, Bub saw nothing. However in Bub's mind, he saw everything. He's seen all he wants to see.

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It's likely that beneath these flaws, Bub was suffering because of how nearsighted he was. Bub's wife said that he did't have any friends (83), and not once during the reading did he mention anyone else important in his life. In fact, Bub confessed that he spent most nights staying up late alone (89). It's almost as if Bub couldn't see any world outside of his house and television. He saw things, but Bub couldn't feel them.

Bub did have redeeming qualities. He was honest, he didn't hide that he is uncomfortable with Robert, or that he was unsure of what he should do around a blind person. Bub's transparency helped Robert to gather an image of the man his friend was married to. It may be that Robert saw Bub before Bub saw Robert, as if often the case when looking at someone who
cannot see.

In the end, Bub clearly emerged as the protagonist of the story. As soon as Bub and Robert parked themselves onto the new sofa, Bub began to wonder about how different Robert was from what he had been conditioned to expect from the blind. For the first time his eyes peeked open and he got a sense of what it was really like to be blind, and at once he began to experience a similar feeling. Bub could not explain what the cathedral was. Even though he saw it, he lacked the ability to truly understand it and describe it, even if his life depended on it. (90). He still tried, Bub tried very hard! He fumbled around the words and needed the images from the television to help him, but he did his best to try and describe the building to Robert.

When Robert and Bub finally began drawing, Bub found his sight. He doesn't draw what he has seen; instead of regurgitating visual sensation, Bub drew what he has seen from within himself. He really experienced a Cathedral-- an obtuse structure that could take on hundreds and hundreds of different shapes and sizes, something that has no standardized description--and the experience flooded him. It isn't made entirely clear if the experience affects Robert in the same way, but Bub continues to draw with Robert's hand even after the TV station goes off the air, well into the night! In an interview with Claude Grimal, Raymond Carver asserts that the act of drawing wasn't a metaphor, but rather it was an emphasis on the contact made between two characters.

Bub eventually overcame his blindness. The limitations of his physical sight were dismantled. When he says at the very end, "I didn't feel like I was inside anything" (93) Bub is really saying that now his mind is thinking and seeing outside the box. By drawing it on paper, a cathedral became something other than a vague and meaningless building in the distance; the cathedral became something he could feel and understand. By sharing that moment with Robert, Bub was finally able to see what it meant to be blind.

The differences between sight and understanding were made clear, Bub was finally able to bridge that gap.

Works Cited

1. Caver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Backpack Literature. 3rd Ed. X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Pearson,2010. 81-93, Book.
2. Stull, William L.;Grimal, Claude. Prose as Achitecture: Two Interviews with Raymond Carver.Clockwatch Review, 1996. Web. October 4, 2010.
3. Gray, Keith. Some Thoughts on Raymond Carver's "Cathedral". Seton Hill, January 15, 2004. Web. October 4, 2010.

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