Insecurity And Jealousy In Carver's Cathedral

Words: 792
Pages: 4
Open Document
In “Cathedral”, by Ramon Carver, an unnamed man tells the story of a blind man who visits his long time friend, the narrator’s wife. The blind man, Robert, met the narrator’s wife 10 years prior when she worked as a reader to the blind. Robert, who lost his wife, Beulah, is on his way to spend the night in the narrator’s home. The narrator highlights that Beulah had also worked for Robert as a reader to blind the summer after the narrator’s wife stopped working for him. The narrator, not too enthusiastic about the visit, quickly expresses his dissatisfaction which reveals insecurity instead of jealousy. This illustrates how close friendships can provoke insecurities and trust issues between couples.

Throughout the story, the narrator mentions that a blind man in his house is not something he looks forward to. He is uncomfortable with a stranger in the house but compromises as his wife made sensitive comments that interfered with his conscious. The wife reasoned that the narrator should not have a problem with Robert visiting and spending the night out of love and consideration that she would make his guest feel comfortable in the same situation. The friendship between Robert and the narrator’s wife had lasted more than ten years. In those years, they had been communicating by tapes. They told each other …show more content…
But I heard nothing of the sort”(Carver 134). The narrator was hoping for validation that would show the strength of his relationship with his wife to instill a sense of security. Although the narrator feels like him and Robert already met (Carver 133), he is still not comfortable with the intimate relationship that his wife entertains with Robert. Because of this, the narrator senses that Robert knows more about his wife than he does due to her and Robert being friends before he even met his actual wife: “She and I began going out, and of course she told her blind man about it.” (Carver
Show More

Related Documents: Insecurity And Jealousy In Carver's Cathedral

Ignorance In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

Blindness does not come from closing our eyes, but from our own ignorance of others. Raymond Carver does a good job exemplifying this theme in his story Cathedral. The main focus of this story is to show the transformation of the narrator bub from being the ignorant and jealous man he is to opening himself up to others and feeling empathy. The story focuses on three characters; the narrator Bub, his unnamed wife, and the wife’s blind friend Robert. The Story starts off with the narrator Bub talking…

Words 1947 - Pages 8

Raymond Carver's Use Of Symbolism In Cathedral

Raymond Carver’s illustrious story Cathedral is fraught with symbolism of the conflict between look and reality which between religious spiritual and revelation. the most necessary and attention-gaining portion of the story is that the struggle in and of itself. The storyteller tells us about a visit that he and his spouse receive from a blind person. The struggle presents itself through the Bub's own internal declamation and thru his behind the scenes antagonism with Robert. Robert could be a manwho…

Words 627 - Pages 3