Cathedral
CathedralRaymond Carver's Cathedral
The Husband�s Enlightenment
Raymond Carver�s "Cathedral" is narrated from the point of view of a hostile and ignorant husband, whose wife has invited a blind friend to spend the night. The narrator is, through his forthcoming descriptions of his wife and the blind man, viewed as extremely bitter. However, as the story progresses, the narrator�s tone and demeanor change from caustic to warm and enlightened.
The story opens as the narrator explains that "the blind man" is on his way from Connecticut, where "he was visiting the dead wife�s relatives," and that the narrator�s wife has invited the blind man to spend the night. The narrator goes on to explain how his wife�s relationship started, beginning "that summer in Seattle she [when] she had needed a job." The husband seems suspicious of their relationship, and his tone is jealous and demeaning. He describes the blind man�s situation with short, terse sentences; "He didn�t have any money, either. But she was in love with the guy, and he was in love with her, etc." He almost seems to balk at their relationship as his use of "etc." depicts. However, the narrator�s ignorance and his perception of the blind man�s life is obvious. Because the narrator cannot understand life without vision, he assumes that the blind man cannot either, and that anyone that is affected by blindness is unsatisfied.
Shortly after the narrator sets the initial tone, he cites an example that plays an important role in the rest of the story. He talks about how, "on her last day in the office," the blind man "asked if he could touch her face." As he continues his description of how the blind man touched her, he speaks about "her face, her nose" and how he "even [touched] her neck!" The way the blind man touched her neck suggests that it was sexual and intimate. It is not the physical contact, rather the husband�s focus on the alleged sexual implications of it. He views this incident as being suggestive, however the wife, who is not disturbed, writes a poem about it. The husband comments, "She even tried to write a poem about it. She was always trying to write a poem," and further explains that "[he] didn�t think much of the poem." The contrasting views of this incident are very important in the story. The husband, an unenlightened, sexually focused and superficial man, cannot understand the blind man or his connection with his wife. The beauty and the meaning of the relationship however, impress the wife.
These two opposing views of the wife�s relationship with the blind man play an important role in the story. They help to justify, how the husband and the wife act toward the blind man upon his arrival. When the blind man first arrives, the husband goes to the window and watches his wife and the blind man...
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