The Blind Husband in Carver’s Cathedral :: Carver Cathedral Essays

The Blind Husband in Carvers Cathedral The short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver is intimately a wo world who has a craft friend who comes to visit her and her save. Although the economize has, technically, normal vision he is in the beginning of this story the whiz who is craft. Through the husbands words and actions when he is dealing with Robert, the blind man, we can fascinate that the husband does not see or understand what Roberts blindness means or how it falsifys or does not multifariousness him as a human being. At first Robert makes the husband in truth uncomfortable, for the husband does not know what to utter or do slightly the blind visitor. As the story progresses, we can see a change in the husband he seems to be able to see Robert as a person and not just as a blind man. One example that shows the husband is blind comes in the beginning of the story, ahead Robert arrives. When the husband and wife talk about(predicate) Robert, the husband usually refe rs to him as this blind man (1052), and he never uses Roberts name or assigns any human attributes to him. This shows that the husband does not really see Robert as a person, but just as a blind man who is different because he has a handicap. When Robert arrives at the couples house, the husband does not know what to say to him. The husband asks stupid questions about the envision from the train Which side of the train did you sit on? (1055). The husband knows that Robert cannot see the view, but he asks him these questions anyway. Also, the husband thinks to himself, I didnt know what else to say (1055) which is a clear indication that he does not know how to tie in to Robert. Both of these quotations show that the husband does not know what to talk about with Robert because he only sees Roberts handicap, instead of seeing him as a complete human being who has emotions, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. Not only does the husband not know how to communicate with Robert, he does not ho w to act around him either. A good example of this, shown after dinner, is when all three of them go into the live room. This is how the husband portrays what happens when they first enter the room Robert and my wife sat on the sofa.