Cathedral by Raymond Carver Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Cathedral by Raymond Carver - Essay Example Narrator seems uncomfortable and disturbed with Robert because he is blind. He feels that he is superior compared with the blind man. The narrator’s opinion and attitude towards blind man is largely contributed by his perception of blind men from movies. He feels that it is strange for Robert not to wear dark glasses yet his eyes looked weird. Narrator is so much disturbed by the fact that Robert cannot perfectly use his eyes to see instead of concentrating on the Robert’s understanding and ability to clearly think and feel things deeply (Carver 186-190). 2. The narrator is unable to describe cathedral perhaps because he is not religious and therefore cathedrals are meaningless to him. Inability to describe cathedral shows that the narrator lacks insight and self-awareness thus leading him to a journey to self-realization as he realizes the limitations of his outlook. Although the narrator can literally see things, he does not pay much attention to what he does with his eyes. He does not understand what being blind entails particularly due to the fact that Robert understands what cathedral looks like even without visual knowledge. 3. The blind man tells the writer to close his eyes while closing his eyes so that he can deeply understand and concentrate what he is doing by having a true sight with the real meaning lying within vision. Robert hopes to teach the narrator a way of looking inward to gain deeper understanding of himself and to see excellent reality. He realizes the depth in genuineness that disturbs the narrator by quietly listening to him while he struggles to describe cathedral. The narrator seems to enjoy the experience of closing his eyes while drawing cathedral. The newfound knowledge and understanding makes him believe that the experience was a very important aspect in his journey to self-realization. Narrator feels that his inner eyes that are based on his mind but not literal