Character Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral

Character Analysis in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†: The Narrator Literature has the potential to act as a mirror by presenting people’s lived experiences, expectations, and perceptions through characters. Such is what can be deciphered through the analysis of different characters in Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral.† This paper focuses on the narrator of the story portrayed by the author as blind, which is used metaphorically not to imply physical blindness, but the inability to have reasoned judgment others referred to as lack of emotional intelligence. The presentation of the narrator, as a fallible individual, contributes to the development of the theme and plot of the story because, through them, the reader can learn about other†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I don’t have any blind friends,† I said. â€Å"You don’t have any friends,† she said.† (Carver 3) The conversation portrays that the narrator lives a secluded and solitary life, and has resorted to seeking to conform through drinking a lot of scotch and smoking marijuana. This point of view is corroborated in Kirk Nesset’s article called â€Å"â€Å"Insularity and Self-Enlargement in Raymond Carver’s ‘Cathedral,† who observes that â€Å"Raymond Carver s fiction is characterized by characters that tend toward insularity and isolation.† (16) The narrator’s solitary life can be attributed to their behavior of profiling and stereotype other people. For instance, he thinks that Beulah, the blind man’s late wife, was a woman of color by her name I didn’t answer. She’d told me a little about the blind man’s wife. Her name was Beulah. Beulah! That’s a name for a colored woman. â€Å"Was his wife a Negro?† I asked. â€Å"Are you crazy?† my wife said. â€Å"Have you just flipped or something?† She picked up a potato. I saw it hit the floor, then roll under the stove. â€Å"What’s wrong with you?† she said. â€Å"Are youShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1696 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom, or trying to bury alive. Cathedral, written by Raymond Carver, takes place in the early 1980’s. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981. Carver slightly revised the story and re-released it in 1983. At a time when the blue collar working class lived paycheck to paycheck, working hard for newfound luxuries such as color television, this short story is humorous and eye-opening for the reader. For adults ranging from thirty to forty years old, the 1980’s were possibly a ghostly, hauntingRead MoreMinimalism by Raymond Carver Essay3013 Words   |  13 PagesLiterary Criticism Minimalism by Raymond Carver English 210 P. Fishman Research Paper Literary Criticism on Minimalism by Raymond Carver Raymond Carver was a master of the short story during the mid nineteenth century due to his unique minimalistic style. Carver has his own artistic signature when it comes to writing, he tells his stories usingRead MoreThe parallel between â€Å"Cathedral† and â€Å"AP†1892 Words   |  8 Pages The parallel between â€Å"Cathedral† and â€Å"AP† Raymond Carver with â€Å"Cathedral† and â€Å"AP† by John Updike are both short stories, even if in facts they are written during the same century, readers can interpret the changes that occurred to be really different. They both introduce characters that are being victim of stereotype by the protagonists, but somehow these characters made a great change into the protagonists’ view of the world and life itself. The stories differ in atmosphere and the quantityRead MoreDo We See The Same Way That We Think?1312 Words   |  6 Pagesknow it. To begin, â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver is a true example of how literature not only shares the outer view of humans, but also what is going on in their minds. This story moves along with its powerful theme and variety of characters within it. You cannot simply look at the surface of something to truly understand the full details of it because what you see or think is on the outside, may not be what is on the inside. This is considered to be the main theme of â€Å"Cathedral†. The narrator’s wifeRead More Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay6977 Words   |  28 Pages In quot;The Compartment,quot; one of Raymond Carvers bleakest stories, a man passes through the French countryside in a train, en route to a rendevous with a son he has not seen for many years. quot;Now and then,quot; the narrator says of the man, quot;Meyers saw a farmhouse and its outbuildings, everything surrounded by a wall. He thought this might be a good way to live-in an old house surrounde d by a wallquot; (Cathedral 48). Due to a last minute change of heart, however, Meyers chooses