What is it about Robert that unsettles the narrator? The narrator is unsettled by Robert's blindness. However, the narrator is put at ease when the blind man makes the narrator draw a cathedral for him.

Why is the narrator jealous of Robert in Cathedral?

Instead of welcoming her old friend to his home, he merely categorizes Robert as part of his wife's past, which makes him jealous, petty, and bitter. He doesn't care whether this visit is important to his wife or what role Robert may have played in helping her through her suicide attempt and divorce.

How does Robert surprise the narrator in Cathedral?

Robert smokes enough to fill an ashtray. This surprises the narrator because he "read somewhere that the blind didn't smoke because […] they couldn't see the smoke they exhaled" (1.43).

What is the significance of the narrator and Robert drawing a cathedral at the end of the story?

The cathedral that the narrator draws with Robert represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within.

What does Robert Call the narrator in Cathedral?

What does Robert Call the narrator? Robert calls the narrator “bub” to give him a title to remember him by.

Cathedral Quick Analysis

How would you describe the narrator in the cathedral?

The protagonist and narrator of Raymond Carver's “Cathedral” is a middle-aged unnamed man. Through interior monologue, the narrator shows himself to be cynical and insensitive, especially to the poetry written by his wife. ... At the beginning of the story, the narrator finds his life banal and somewhat meaningless.

Who is Robert in the cathedral?

Robert. The blind man. Robert visits the narrator and his wife after his own wife, Beulah, dies. He is a caring, easygoing man who sets even the narrator at ease.

What is the significance of the cathedral in the story cathedral?

The cathedral symbolizes to both the blind man and the narrator in Raymond Carver's “Cathedral” the possibility to apprehend a whole new dimension of reality. Through drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator is able to gain a glimpse into a completely different world, one that he'd previously never seen.

Who narrates Cathedral and what point of view does the narrator use?

Carver uses a first-person narrator to tell the story of “Cathedral” to emphasize the bewildering aspects of the transcendent moment that he relates in the story.

What is the message of the cathedral?

The main theme of “Cathedral” is that human connection occurs in various forms and degrees. The characters illustrate that people have different ways and abilities to connect and relate to others; some are more successful than others.

Is the narrator in Cathedral sympathetic?

The narrator in Cathedral is a sympathetic protagonist. ... In the middle of the story, the audience develops further sympathy for the narrator as he is clearly unhappy in life based upon his daily substance abuse.

Which of the following happens while Robert and the narrator are drawing the cathedral?

Which of the following happens while Robert and the narrator are drawing the cathedral? Robert asks the narrator to get a pen and paper to draw a cathedral. According to the story, the cathedral building is notable for which of the following reasons? It involved hundreds of workers, laboring over generations.

How have the wife and Robert primarily communicated in Cathedral?

To please his wife, the narrator makes an effort to communicate with her friend. ... Through touch, more than through words, Robert communicates with the narrator his own experience of the world, conveying to the narrator a transcendent feeling of connection.

What is the relationship between the narrator and his wife in Cathedral?

With her husband, however, the narrator's wife is standoffish and sometimes even prickly. It seems that the narrator's inability to understand his wife's values and emotions leads to strain in their relationship, whereas the narrator's wife feels understood by Robert, who is a good friend and a careful listener.

How did Robert and the narrator's wife meet?

He explains that his wife met the blind man ten years ago when she worked for him as a reader to the blind in Seattle. ... The narrator says that his wife once asked him to listen to one of the blind man's tapes. They started to listen but were interrupted before the narrator could hear anything about himself.

Why are Robert and Beulah named but not the narrator and his wife?

Robert and Beulah are named because they are more fully realized characters than the narrator and his wife. ... The narrator apparently has no friends, and the wife's only close friend seems to be Robert; the narrator and his wife don't even seem to be friends with each other.

What does the narrator learn from his encounter with Robert?

The narrator learns from Robert that it is possible to be able to see without understanding and to understand without seeing. Robert has never seen the narrator's wife, but he knows all about her thoughts and feelings, which the narrator doesn't.

What does Robert see over the course of the evening Cathedral?

Robert can see much the narrator cannot. The narrator was very close-minded and did not want Robert to visit. Robert, through his other senses, is able to "see" things. He can trace the outlines of someone's face, for example, and picture his or her face in his mind.

Is Robert in Cathedral a flat or round character?

Cathedral, Raymond Carver

Robert is the other main character of the story. He is round but static.

What is the drawing of a cathedral together Robert and husband a symbol of?

The cathedral symbolizes to both the blind man and the narrator in Raymond Carver's “Cathedral” the possibility to apprehend a whole new dimension of reality. Through drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator is able to gain a glimpse into a completely different world, one that he'd previously never seen.

What does the ending of cathedral mean?

Carver finishes “Cathedral” with a “zero ending,” leaving the narrator with his eyes closed, imagining the cathedral he has just drawn with Robert. ... The narrator has not become a new person or achieved any kind of soul-changing enlightenment.

What does the blind man represent?

The tale later became well known in Europe, with 19th century American poet John Godfrey Saxe creating his own version as a poem, with a final verse that explains that the elephant is a metaphor for God, and the various blind men represent religions that disagree on something no one has fully experienced.

How does Robert communicate in Cathedral?

Robert, on the other hand, has no problem communicating. For the last ten years, he has been exchanging letters and tapes with the wife consistently. Letters and tapes are a very intimate form of communication, as …show more content…

What is Robert like in Cathedral?

Robert is an insightful, compassionate man who takes the time to truly listen to others, which helps him to “see” them better than he could with his eyes. Robert and the narrator's wife have been listening to each other for the past ten years through the audiotapes they send back and forth.

Why does the narrator not like Robert?

The narrator is clearly jealous of Robert: not only is he a threat, but he is very mysterious—the narrator can't understand what it must be like to be blind and can't understand how someone could love a blind man (when he hears about Beulah, Robert's late wife, all he can think about is how it must have made no ...