Cathedral, a short story written by Raymond Carver, about a man who is blind. He comes to stay with his friend at her house. The narrator's wife knows the blind man from Seattle when she was to marry another man. She had worked with him all that summer, they became close friends. The people who have had to overcome these situations and obstacles, have great desire and understand that the world is not going to have pity on them. The use of the many types of characterization Carver uses, shows that Robert is determined and able to learn whatever he wants. He is very persistent. The narrator gives us background information on Robert and the reason he is staying with their family. The man was late 40s, a heavy-set, balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light brown shirt, a tie, and a sports coat. [CITATION Erd13 p 497 l 1033 ].
Robert is adamant about living a normal life as everyone else does. He always tries to understand. He is someone who figures out how something is, and he won't move on until he knows it. The story lets us know his wife Beulah kept loving Robert, even though she would never be told how she looked at any particular time. Can you even imagine what it's like to never see yourself and how you looked in the eyes of your spouse? Going day to day without any compliments from her husband. I imagine that her last thought would have been: He never knew what I looked like.
The narrator appears to be jealous. Jealous about his wife, who spent a whole summer 10 years ago with this blind man named Robert. Now the bling man is coming to stay awhile with them. "A blind man in my house is not something that I looked forward to; she told me that he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose-even her neck!" [CITATION Erd13 p 494 l 1033 ] The narrator starts acting foolishly because his wife has known Robert for 10 years.
