Critical Book Review: The Cathedral by Raymond Carver (Book Review Sample)

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"The Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver is one of the most charismatic American short-story writer as well as the poet. "The story "The Cathedral" has been narrated in the first person about a blind man whose is coming to pay the narrator and his wife a visit. To the narrator at first does not like the idea of the blind man coming to pay them a visit since he is not aware how much the blind man means to his wife. The narrator has the manifestation of a divine being and "sees "as the story comes to the end.
Raymond Carver’s short story "The Cathedral" is full of symbolism portrayed by the conflict between reality and appearance and also the one between revelation and spiritual numbness. The cathedral is the most significant symbol in the story; the narrator explains how a blind by the name of Robert pays them a visit with his wife. The author of the story skillfully applies the motive of the Robert being blind. Since birth to point to the way in which things can be seen in cases where people are not in the position to see the immediate reality. The narrator is very doubtful as well as afraid of looking beyond the immediate facts. The conflict between him and the blind man is quite apparent which is prompted by the narrator’s jealousy as well his prejudice. He much bothered by the fact of a blind man visiting the as he perceives blinds as a mysterious and something unusual: "and his being blind bothered me .My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing –eye dogs.
A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.”(Carver.209). the narrator is not ready to understand at first, and he thinks in a stereotype that he has picked from the movies. His wife reads him a poem that she has written to the blind man, but he says that he does not understand poetry. "I can remember I didn’t think much of the poem. Of course I didn’t tell her that Maybe I just don’t understand poetry.”(Carver.211)The Cathedral is a symbol of spirituality as the temple is erected by men for religion: "The TV showed this one Cathedral …Finally, the picture switched to the famous one in Paris, with its flying buttresses and its spire reached up to the clouds. The camera pulled away to show the whole Cathedral rising above the skyline.”(Carvers, 222).
The narrator’s real personality is exposed by Carver when he uses the first –person narrative. It is evident that the narrator is jealous of the past relationship with his wife and Robert. His wife worked for Robert one summer ten years ago as a "Reading to the Blind Man" (Carver 299).She was forced to quit the job when she decided to get married, but they still stayed in touch with Robert by sending each other voice tapes through the mail (Carver 301). The narrator is criticizing and making an assumption about the blind man since he is so jealous of the relationship that the blind man had with his wife. It is evident in the sequence the story is told in: Initially the narrator describes the relationship that his wife and the blind man Robert used to have. Then he explains what his perspective on blind people is in general. He says that the he has the stereotype about blind people came from the movies and went on to mention that he has never met a blind person before (carver, 299).
The author has created two very contrasting characters yet they are comparable. There are three main characters; they include the Robert the blind man, the blind man’s friend .the wife and her husband. The blind man and the friend’s husband are portrayed to be contrasted in several ways, but the author harmonizes them at the end of the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator's wife invites the blind man to visit her and her husband. The husband is seen to b "Blinded" despite him having a normal vision. For instance, he is so stereotypical about the blind man c...