In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the primary lesson learned by the main protagonist, a provincial man who is glib about a blind man whom his wife invites over for dinner, is that it is more dangerous to be blind to one’s emotional and moral centers. In the man’s attempts to understand the blind man (Robert), he learns himself that he is being too narrow-minded and lacking in understanding. While he judges Robert for his blindness, he himself is blind to the true perception that Robert’s kinder nature brings out in himself and others. Carver addresses these ideas by having the narrator judge Robert harshly, then proceed to prove him wrong due to Robert’s intelligence, sensitivity and imagination.
Much of this realization and its redemptive nature comes from the narrator’s drawing of a cathedral on TV with Robert. At one point, the narrator says, “I guess I’m agnostic or something,” showing just how blind he is to the divine and to the things not immediately seen. However, in the drawing of the cathedral, Robert ‘sees’ the cathedral by holding the narrator’s hand and feeling how he draws it – in this way, he understands the divine literally through the perspective of another. While the narrator has physical sight, it is realizing the transcendent nature of Robert’s own sight that he starts to change his mind about his own narrow attitudes. The joining of hands creates a fraternal connection that cannot be broken, and the narrator ‘sees’ the world through Robert’s own perspective.
In this way, Carver shows a redemptive story arc for the main character of “Cathedral,” as his own arrogant assumptions about physical sight being all that is needed leaves him blind to the true beauty of the world.
References
Carver, R. (1981). Cathedral.
