Point Of View In Raymond Carver's Cathedral

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In "Cathedral", one of Carver's well known short stories, he begins to explain the difference between exploring the world with our eyes and exploring with our minds. Robert, a blind man who has just lost his wife, demonstrates that idea of understanding the world without actually seeing it. When he comes to stay with the couple, the narrator is introduced to his way of living. Mainly, through the use of point of view, the reader is able to see the change shown in the narrator. This short story, written in first person point of view, shows not only the acceptance, but the appreciation of an unknown world. By world, I don't mean a different planet, but, instead, a different understanding of what life has to offer. The short story starts as the narrator introduces the big problem: a blind man, a friend from his wife's past, is visiting them for the time being while he copes after the loss of his wife. Initially, the narrator had no interest in the man's stay simply because he was "no one he knew" and "his being blind bothered him". In these two quotes, the narrator shows his rude personality. The arrogance and over-done confidence…show more content…
When mentioning the officer, he adds things like "why should he have a name? he was a childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?" Through little interjections, such as those, the narrator, in a way becomes unreliable and biased. Continuing with the story, the narrator pities the blind man's wife because she could not see herself how her lover saw her. It's ironic that the narrator mentions this point specifically because he, himself, is a stranger to his wife. Though he may be able to see the physical beauty, he really doesn't know a whole lot about his

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