Raymond Carver planted a seed into the mind of his audience that imagination prevents stereotypical blindness. This message is important because Carver touched on a current problem that we face in our daily lives known as prejudice. This problem is caused by stereotype disease and the cure for it is imagination because people will be more sensitive to how others feel. In “Cathedral”, Carver showed how Bub, as a sighted person, was struggling with stereotypical blindness and Robert, as a blind person, was able to see with his heart and mind. The elements used to convey this message were characterization, plot, symbolism, and metaphor.

The first element that Carver used was characterization. The three characters of “Cathedral” are Robert, Bub and his wife. Carver used dialogue in the story to show each character’s personality traits. Robert is a blind man who doesn't allow his disability to affect his quality of life. He can do all the things that a non-handicapped person can do such as eating, and smoking, as well as watching television. Additionally, Robert is able to have meaningful relationships with people by connecting with them on an emotional level. For example, he was in love with his deceased wife and he has a strong friendship with Bub's wife. The tone that Carver displayed for Robert was genuine affection. Speaking to Bub one night, Robert stated, “I’ll stay up until you’re ready to turn in. We haven’t had a chance to talk. Know what I mean? I feel like me and her monopolized the evening” (Carver).

He made an effort to make a personal connection with Bub and wanted to be his friend. Some other traits that Robert had were open-minded, caring, easygoing, and willing to try new things. On the other hand, Bub, the narrator, was self-centered, insensitive, and ignorant. He had superficial views about blind people. An example of this is in the following: “And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed” (Carver). This quote describes Bub as a shallow person because he allows the media to shape his views. Bub was jealous of men who were close to his wife, especially Robert. For example, Bub stated, “They talked of things that had happened to them—to them!—these past ten years. I waited in vain to hear my name on my wife’s sweet lips…But I heard nothing of sort. More talk of Robert” (Carver). Carver expressed an insecure and desperate tone for Bub.

He wanted to receive more attention from his wife and he didn’t like that Robert was taking the spotlight. At the end of the story, Bub had an epiphany that transformed his negative viewpoint to an open-minded, positive attitude. Bub's wife, who is nameless in the story, is the bridge that connects Bub and Robert. The wife valued human connection. In the beginning of the story, she felt miserable in her first marriage because the army base movement created too much separation from her close friends. She divorced the army officer because she didn’t like the lifestyle and married Bub. She met Robert by responding to his job advertisement. While working together on the job, a friendship was established because Robert gave her a chance to express her feelings.

The plot element consists of five series of events which are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Carver wrote this story in first person point of view in order to give us a feel of being inside Bub’s head and watch his transformation. The exposition mentions the characters and setting. The characters in this story are Bub, Robert, and Bub’s wife. The setting is in Connecticut and Seattle, Washington. Bub’s wife worked for Robert in Seattle and her main responsibility was to read to him. Robert went to Connecticut because he was visiting his deceased wife relatives. Robert and Bub’s wife made arrangements so Robert can come visit her and Bub. Bub’s house was the meeting spot for the three characters, but Carver didn’t mention the location of their house.

The rising action is known as the conflict. The conflict was Bub versus Robert because he had a fear of seeing a blind person in his house. Bub didn’t want to be alone with Robert and preferred when his wife was present. Bub stated, "I didn't want to be left alone with a blind man" (Carver). This is significant because it shows Bub’s fear of having a friendship with Robert. Bub prejudged Robert based on what he had seen in movies and his false assumptions.The climax or turning point was Robert desired to spend time with Bub. Bub explained the appearance of the cathedral that was on the television because Robert wanted to learn about it. Carver gave us a glimpse of Bub’s thought process with this quote, “How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else” (Carver). It paints a picture of Bub being scared, but he still decided to step out of his comfort zone. Bub struggled to satisfy Robert’s request with his words.

The falling action was Robert suggested the idea to draw a Cathedral with Bub. While he was drawing, Robert put his hand on Bub's hand. This type of affection helped Bub to show acceptance toward Robert. I realized Bub put more time and effort into the picture. The resolution was found when Robert instructed Bub to complete the drawing with his eyes closed. During that moment, Bub had an epiphany because he was imagining the cathedral in great detail and he didn’t open his eyes when Robert told him to look at the picture. Instead Bub chose to keep his eyes closed because he was able to finally see with his mind and heart.

Another element was symbolism. Carver used a cathedral as the main symbol in this story because it gave Bub the ability to see beyond the surface and find true meaning within his heart. It represents a place of worship for our souls to connect with God and have fellowship with other believers. Bub had a difficult time explaining the appearance of a cathedral because it didn’t mean anything to him. Robert questioned Bub about his faith. Bub replied, “I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it’s hard” (Carver). Bub doesn’t have a belief system and this led to his spiritual blindness. However, drawing the cathedral gave Bub the opportunity to really think and map it out in his mind. Bub opened a spiritual door and he entered into a deep place in his mind which doesn’t require his eyes. The language Carver used was irony because he wanted to show readers that people with vision can be blinded by stereotypes and, conversely, a physically blind person can see things such as emotions. It’s clever how Carver presented Bub as the character who is experiencing blindness and distracted readers from feeling empathy for Robert’s condition.

It’s ironic that a blind man learns about cathedrals-a real structure and in the process Bub learns how to see from within his mind-the place of imagination. For example, Bub reached an epiphany when he stated, "It's really something, I said" (Carver). This is significant because it’s a confirmation that Bub was able to imagine a cathedral without opening his eyes. He put himself in Robert's shoes and was able to see the meaning of a cathedral. Bub recognized for the first time that looking internally revealed a deep understanding about his life. Bub doesn’t realize that he created limitations in his sight which led him to be blind. It’s obvious that Bub has eyes to see the physical world, but he didn’t make any effort to dig deep into his imagination. Carver wanted to show his readers that Bub was blind because he refused to acknowledge his prejudice in Robert before getting to know him. It’s ironic that he finally can see with his eyes closed while receiving directions from a blind man.

The last element used by Carver was metaphor. In the drawing session, Robert stated, “You're cooking with gas now” (Carver). It compared drawing and cooking to demonstrate two different characters were making progress by working together as a team. In cooking, people mix different ingredients to create a good recipe. Carver makes it clear that Bub and Robert are the ingredients and the recipe is the cathedral. Another metaphor was, “He held the burning roach out for my wife” (Carver). All the characters were smoking marijuana. This is known to alter one’s mental status and the marijuana decreased Bub’s fear in his mind, so he can experience an epiphany to appreciate cathedrals.

In conclusion Carver used elements such as characterization, plot, symbolism, and metaphor to support his claim that Bub was blind, in ways beyond the physical senses, and he needed guidance from Robert, a blind man. Throughout the story, we see Bub’s negative views about blind people and how he stereotypes Robert. However, Robert aims to be his friend and he lives his life in the opposite way of the stereotypes. Overall, this short story is very ironic because Bub learned how to see from Robert, the blind man.

Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Misanthropy Today. 21 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.