Carver's "Cathedral" When the Narrator Term Paper

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As Bub found out, he cannot verbally convey the concept of cathedral to the blind man. He has to show him; he had no actually get down on his knees and speak the blind man's language. The narrator admits that he had to level with Robert: "my life depended on it."

Prior to his epiphany, Bub remained stubbornly prejudiced, believing such silly notions as "The blind didn't smoke because...they couldn't see the smoke they exhaled." The narrator's narrow world prevented him from viewing Robert as a person. Instead, all he saw was a stereotypical blind man. For example, Bub expected Robert to be wearing sunglasses and when he wasn't he was shocked. Similarly, the narrator seems to think that the blind man's beard is somehow out of place simply because Robert cannot see. The narrator's prejudices remain solidly in place until the conversation about the cathedral.

Bub is not a bad man; he represents the tendency within all human beings to see others not as they are but as we believe them to be. Therefore, Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is about the universal phenomenon of stereotyping and how stereotypes prevent the flowering of human love and genuine understanding.

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Viewing Robert not as an individual but as a nebulous "blind man," the narrator and his new friend cannot find common ground. They gobble down their dinner in silence, as they have nothing to say to one another and Bub hides behind the television so that he doesn't have to address Robert directly. Bub's prejudices extend beyond those about the visually impaired, as he reacts with shock upon hearing that Robert's wife was named Beulah. "Beulah!" he exclaims. "That's a name for a colored woman." The narrator may not be able to color his skin, but he was able to shut his eyes and feel what it was like, if only for a moment, to be blind.

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