Narcissistic, superficial, self-centered.
Misunderstands people and relationships.
Blindness is most defining characteristic to narrator.
1. Quote first line.
B. Narrator sees Robert as abnormal.
III. Baffled by Robert's individuality.
A. Way Robert Acted.
1. Smoked cigarettes (quote).
2. Full beard.
3. Narrator's reaction.
IV. Robert's relationship with narrator's wife.
A. Narrator doesn't understand it.
B. Narrator's wife writes poem.
1. Narrator doesn't understand poetry.
V. Pinnacle of emotional blindness.
A. Reaction to Robert having a wife.
B. How he shows how shallow he is.
C. Quote.
VI. Surface bonding due to drugs and alcohol.
A. They are not actually bonding.
B. It is a fake relationship.
VII. Conclusion.
A. Restate thesis.
John Molinelli.
Intro. To Literature.
24 February 2004.
Prof. Ginolfi.
Discovering the True Blind Man.
Raymond Carver's "Cathedral- is a story told by a narrator who is not sensitive. One could describe him as being narcissistic, superficial, and self-centered. While his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which most clearly show his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him.
Robert's blindness, to the narrator, is his defining characteristic. The opening line of the story reads, "This blind man, an old friend of my wife's, he was on his way to spend the night" (Carver 75). From the opening sentence, the narrator dismisses Robert because of his disability. This immediately allows the readers to see that the narrator is unable to look past a person's superficial qualities. Someone who judges a person based on such characteristics is only seeing the particular aspect of the person that makes them uncomfortable and they are not seeing the whole person. Unconsciously, the narrator places Robert in a category that he labels abnormal, which stops him from seeing the blind man as an individual.
