Essay on Insights and Epiphanies: Understanding the Narrator's Transformation in 'Cathedral'

"Cathedral" is a short story written by American author and poet Robert Carver. The main themes that can be found in the story include jealousy, detachment, isolation, and insecurity. It is narrated by an unnamed man in the first person. The short description is centered around how limited the narrator’s viewpoint on blindness is, and consequently how Robert, appears to be an inconvenience throughout. It is essential to note the narrator does not believe in certain aspects of life and can only do so through Roberts’s guidance at the end of the story.

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Therefore, this paper presents an argumentative essay that uses Robert's vision impairment as a symbol to represent and help the reader better understand the narrator's inability to see certain aspects of life and how, despite the visual impairment, Robert seems to lead a meaningful and more significant life.

The narrator is entirely self-absorbed and only concerned with how Robert’s visit will impact him negatively instead of meaningfully. He also does not seem too pleased with the role that Robert may have played in his wife’s life in the past and only sees it as a threat.

It is true to say that the narrator lacks self-awareness. He seems to feel sorry for Roberts’s wife, Beulah, for the reason that her husband is not physically capable of looking at her and admiring her. This consequently helps him realize that he, too, does not know his wife despite having no visual impairments.

The narrator's hidden pains continue to struggle throughout the story, showing he is not a very skillful storyteller. His story is filled with rough transitions, as well as defensive interruptions. For instance, at one moment, while referring to his wife's childhood sweetheart, he asks, "Why should he have a name? He was the childhood sweetheart, what more does he want?” (Carver, 1983 p.2660). Such interruptions reveal the narrator's sense of insecurity and jealousy and go on to show the reader that his strong relationship with his wife might not be so strong after all.

The narrator remains in awe and seems to lack any form of understanding of what a visually impaired man can or cannot do. As Robert smokes his cigar rates and cuts his meat with precision and care, the narrator tries to make sense of him. To him, Robert seems abnormal and, to some extent, alien.

In the short story, alcohol and drugs can bring Robert and the narrator closer together. Nevertheless, this is not the primary reason why the narrator indulges in alcohol. In a day, the narrator consumes about twenty or so scotch drinks, coupling this with marijuana. This helps the narrator experience an enhanced image of the Cathedral and enables him to describe it to Robert better since he cannot see it for himself.

As the narrator describes the Cathedral to the blind man, he can slowly but gradually overcome his insecurities. By using alcohol and drugs, he is able to free his spirit and experience a better relationship with the blind man.

Through this, he can feel more comfortable while talking to the man he was not so fond of before. As the text helps us, the readers, to understand, alcohol possesses the power to control most human actions and emotions.

The relationship between the narrator and his wife seems unfriendly and hostile. He does not seem to care enough for his wife or her friend as evidenced by his comments, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me.” (Carver, 1983 p.2679).

Throughout Roberts’s visit, he keeps complaining of his visual impairment, lashing out harsh words that seem to irritate his wife at some point. He is bothered by Roberts’s visual impairment and even points out that he does not have any blind friends. Consequently, his wife’s response to him shows that their relationship is not all flowers and roses and that it does, in fact, suffer. "My wife looked at me with irritation" (Carver, 1983, p.2683), and "My wife gave me a savage look" (Carver, 1983, p.2679).

Robert is a knowledgeable person and is able to see right through their relationship hurdles. He hopes that their relationship can change and that she should gain the courage and leave the narrator as he does not deserve her. Through his rigorous training and experience as a firefighter, Robert helps him see things from a different angle and predicts that things will worsen between the narrator and his wife until they are divorced.

Even though, as we already know by now, the narrator of Cathedral is not blind. Nonetheless, his inability to understand and comprehend things makes him even more blind than the visually impaired man. Unlike Robert, the narrator is fully capable of using his eyes. Still, he is faced with the significant difficulty of not understanding other people's feelings and thoughts that lie underneath the surface.

The narrator is not able to have an epiphany until the last parts of the story. This is because the writer of the story wants us to understand and acknowledge that the narrator has shortcomings, which he is able to overcome by the end of the story.

When in the end, the narrator is able to draw a cathedral with the help of Robert, he closes his eyes for a moment, and he is able to experience an epiphany. This moment involved the narrator seeing much more with his eyes closed than he could ever have accomplished with his eyes open.

Despite being so indifferent to Robert throughout the entire evening, he gets a chance to talk to Robert when his wife falls asleep directly. After listening to Robert's words of wisdom, he begins to grow some compassion and begins to describe to Robert what's on the television. However, his efforts are squashed when he realizes that he is unable to describe a cathedral to Robert. He fails to describe the Cathedral because he is unable to comprehend the more profound meaning and significance. The activity of drawing the Cathedral together with Robert but with his eyes closed helps him search for the purpose from deep inside him and eventually find it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, through the cathedral story, the author creates a strong case for why we sometimes judge others and fail to understand our shortcomings. He further uses the story to show us that despite any physical inabilities that we may possess, the real power lies within our minds and how we are able to use it to our advantage. The narrator, through the help of the visually impaired character, is able to find himself and the meaning within.

Work Cited

Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. Vintage, 1983