What is the Theme?
Hollie Ott
Introduction to Literature
Instructor Lenore Gallucci-Stevenson
December 3, 2012

What is the Theme Over the next few paragraphs I want to show what I feel is the theme in the short story The Cathedral by Raymond Carver. This story told in the first person point of view, has a supported theme based on the characters of the story, the symbolism, and the tone. The main character, which is the narrator of the story, is an insensitive man, who cannot come to grips with his wife's distant relationship with a blind man named Robert. Throughout the course of this story the narrator is able to start to understand more that his assumptions of how a blind person should be is not necessarily the way it is at all, and eventually finds himself teaching the blind man how to see a Cathedral. Let me begin with writing in the first person point of view and how it has contributed to the them of this story. First person point of view means the narrator participates in the story by describing their personal actions and thoughts (Clugston, 2010). According to The Writers Craft writing in first person point of view is the easiest for readers because it is more intimate (The Writer's Craft, n.d.). In the Cathedral, the point of view contributes greatly to the theme because one can relate to the feelings of Robert, the wife and the narrator through their conversations. You can sense his hostility toward the blind man as he describes his preconceived idea of how the blind man will "be slow and never laugh" because that’s how blind people were in the movies. He does not try to hide his not wanting the man to visit by using sarcasm and telling his wife that maybe he should take Robert bowling. The next line actually shows the wife's need for him to understand how much Robert means to her by telling him that if he loves her he will do this for her. Once the narrator actually meets Robert and has been more enlightened by his wife just the type of person Robert was, he starts to come to terms with the fact that Robert is nothing like what he expected him to be and that all of his assumptions were wrong. Blindness in this story is a great use of symbolism, Bullock described it best by saying "The narrator, apparently reassured by Robert's failure to fit his stereotypes of the blind, admits he is glad for the company" (Bullock, 1994). Here blindness does not only represent the mans disability, but the closed mindedness of the narrator. By "opening his eye" so to speak he is able to see that Robert is a good man and a new friend. The tone of the story shifts a little in the beginning you see a lot of the narrators discomfort in the man coming to his home, and his relationship with his wife. As the story progresses though you see the tone shift to one of awe and fear when the two men are watching a program on television and Robert asks the narrator to describe what a cathedral looks like. He is so nervous, how do you explain sight to a blind man? The answer is shown that to do this you must use one of his other senses. In this case it's touch, as Robert feels the canvas they are going to be drawing the picture on before and after they have drawn together. As the two men are drawing together you can sense the narrator feeling exactly like Robert when Robert tells him to close his eyes and draw. This was a great story that I really took a lot from in a literary sense. There was so many uses of symbolism, and the tone shifts kept the dramatics interesting as well. This was a very intimate story that most can relate to when you're married and past relationships of your spouse are brought up. I think we all have that sense of jealousy at first, but usually we learn that what we are expecting is usually all together different than what we imagined.

References
R.W. Clugston, (2010) Journey Into Literature. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG125.10.2/sections/ch00
The Writers Craft (n.d.) First Person Point of View Retrieved from http://www.the-writers- craft.com/first-person-point-of-view.html
Bullock C.J., (1994). From castle to cathedral: The architecture of masculinity in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral". Journal of Men's Studies, 2(4), 343-343. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/222649416?accountid=32521