cathedral

“Cathedral”

By:

Raymond Carver

In this short story, the author is not looking forward to a visit by a blind friend of his wife. He has preconceived notions about how blind people act, and he does not want one in his house. His wife and Robert, the blind man had been friends since she was a young girl. They had kept in contact by sending each other tapes about what was going on in their lives. The author doesn’t understand the friendship her wife and Robert have had. As the story begins the Robert’s wife has just died. The author has no empathy for the man, but strangely does for his dead wife because she had to live with a blind husband. The author feels somewhat left out as his wife and Robert visit. Later, Robert and the author smoke dope together and visit. Robert has an amazing ability to connect with other people and he does with the author showing him what it is like to be blind, strangely opening the author’s eyes.