One element of this story I really enjoyed was the internal monologue versus the external dialogue. As the audience, it made me feel like I was inside the brain of the narrator while also a fly on the wall. The continuation of rhetorical questions or internally answering another characters question pointed me toward the mood or tone of the narrator. I could read their emotions toward the situation without the narrator having to go beyond saying he didn’t want the blind man there. From an engagement aspect, the internal aspects kept me going. I too was thinking about some of the questions the narrator posed in his internal monologue. Mulling over the possible answers in an attempt to further understand the story. Overall, I think the internal monologue heightened the level of reflection one may have with this story. It left so many questions posed and unanswered, even the end itself.
Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” follows the narrator having a blind man, Robert, who is an old friend of his wife’s, stay at his home, with his view on Robert transforming throughout the short story. Carver utilizes the first-person-perspective characteristic of books such as ‘The Hunger Games’ or short stories like “The Yellow Wallpaper” to illustrate the character of the narrator’s feelings, especially towards Robert. Initially, the narrator expresses apathy to Robert himself, though he expresses discomfort at the notion of when his wife allowed Robert to feel her face with his hands, and a sort of disgust at the thought of Robert’s wedding and marriage to his late wife, Beulah. The narrator also admits in his internal monologue that his perception of blind people is entirely formed by television. All of this indicates a closed-minded individual, and left me expecting for something ‘bad’ to happen between the narrator and Robert, especially as the tension in the dinner scene built with the lack of conversation. However, the narrator seems to obtain an appreciation and understanding of Robert’s experience of the world when they draw a cathedral together, with the narrator’s words “it’s really something” indicating a maturing from his intial coldness to a more curious, kinder individual. I found it really impressive how this was done in such a short amount of time without it feeling rushed in terms of pacing.
Raymond Carter’s “Cathedral” was really well written. I really enjoyed so much about this piece. It left me wondering about a lot of things, while also painting such a clear picture of what was happening within the pages. In the few short pages we were understand the depth and background of each character, and understand the importance of these characters. While I had some trouble following the beginning explanation of the story before Robert arrived to their house, explaining the wife and how the women met Robert, I was able to grasp the depth of the story. I also really liked how the ending left us with so much to think about. Did the husband ever understand the blind man? Did he ever realize the impact the blind man left on him, and the impact he had left on his wife’s life? I think overall this story leaves a lot to think about, and really leaves the reader wanting more. While the point of these shorter stories is to leave us wondering, it really did a good job creating this aura of questions and thinking that will be left with it. Overall, I really liked this story. I think the writing style really sucked you in, and created such a vivid and completely picture of what was going on within these few moments with these characters.
After reading Cathedral the story I felt had a little of hidden messages which kept things interesting. You can also see character growth as the story comes to an end. In the beginning the husband was very anti blind people due to the stereotyping ideas that blind people are slow and grumpy. The husband was very sarcastic at first when discussing about the old mans stay to his wife. Towards the end we start to see the old man and husband begin to bond while smoking and watching TV while his wife is asleep. He even begins to open his mind up and have empathy for the old man. A hidden message I noticed throughout the short story was the constant bringing up about drinking. This made me come to think that the husband might have a drinking/substance problem as he explains him and his wife never go to bed at the same time as he’ll stay up late smoking alone and drinking while watching TV. An overall message I got from this story was the idea of empathy and not judging a book by its cover and assuming stereotypes.
Within the short story “Cathedral” we can see a variety of storytelling techniques. What stood out to me the most was how casual the writing style seemed. It was more like the author, Carver, was having a conversation with his listeners or letting them listen in on the main character’s internal monologue than the usual narration style I see when I am reading. I also appreciate how willing Carver was to make the narrator unlikeable. He did not shy away from writing down the character’s less than kind thoughts. Through this technique, however, we were able to see how the mindset of the narrator changes. When the narrator is a cynical and judgmental man it is all the more powerful when he finally lets go and allows for Robert to help him let loose.
After reading “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, some of the literary devices I took note of while reading included his use of situational irony, his use of audience relation through that situational irony, his use of imagery, and his uses of dialogue throughout the short story. From my own perspective, I feel that if I was in our narrator’s shoes, I would not have known how to navigate meeting a blind man and feeling jealous of him over the years only to meet him in person and have my wife flaunt over him in ways she’s never exhibited towards me either. Our narrator’s feelings of jealousy towards a blind man after degrading him and having an innate bias that he was “lesser” shows the readers how Carver’s use of irony and audience relation progress his feelings of angst and discomfort with not only the blind man as a human but towards his wife’s relationship with the guest. This also shows how real our character is, which also relates to the audience and shows our character is not perfect- something everyone experiences. By using the writing craft of the six senses, including taste, and using words that cater to feeling stuffed after they finished all the food, Carver’s also catering to audience relation. Other literary devices that I noticed throughout the story were Carver’s use of the setting, and his use of imagery, and the other six senses that also seemed to play a role throughout the short story; giving it a realer feeling that acted as a gateway for the audience to feel a relation to the story as well. His use of dialogue throughout “Cathedral” is also a larger literary device that he leans towards throughout the short story, revealing different character’s motivations and facilitating the story’s general progression overall. I found myself really enjoying this short story because of the intriguing plot and how relatable it felt as I was reading- you felt jealous of the blind man alongside the narrator, which is hard to do, which makes me wonder what Raymond Carver’s wiring process consists of.
Q 1: I’m wondering how his thought process of writing a story about a blind man came about?
Q 2: I’m wondering what the thought process of writing short stories vs writing poetry is like?
One of the most prominent parts of Cathedral, I find, is the development of how the narrator views Robert. When he first hears about Robert, the narrator admits to having an opinion based more on what he’s seen in movies and his thoughts on Robert are judgemental. He seems uncomfortable around Robert, partially because of those limited biases but also seemingly because of the level of comfortability between his wife and Robert. As the evening progresses, the narrator seems to grow more comfortable with Robert, though is obviously awkward in the way one would be around a stranger. It’s only once his wife falls asleep and the narrator is left alone with Robert that they have a real conversation. The narrator begins to describe cathedrals to Robert, but upon realizing he can’t do it very well, Robert has the narrator draw a cathedral for him. What is drawn isn’t said or specified or anything, as it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the narrator closes his eyes when Robert tells him to and doesn’t open them when Robert asks how their drawing looks. What matters is that the narrator is viewing the world the same way Robert does; he has moved past his previous bias, past his discomfort with Robert, and is looking at the world with new eyes, or no eyes at all.
Raymond Carter’s “Cathedral” was really well written. I really enjoyed so much about this piece. It left me wondering about a lot of things, while also painting such a clear picture of what was happening within the pages. In the few short pages we were understand the depth and background of each character, and understand the importance of these characters. While I had some trouble following the beginning explanation of the story before Robert arrived to their house, explaining the wife and how the women met Robert, I was able to grasp the depth of the story. I also really liked how the ending left us with so much to think about. Did the husband ever understand the blind man? Did he ever realize the impact the blind man left on him, and the impact he had left on his wife’s life? I think overall this story leaves a lot to think about, and really leaves the reader wanting more. While the point of these shorter stories is to leave us wondering, it really did a good job creating this aura of questions and thinking that will be left with it. Overall, I really liked this story. I think the writing style really sucked you in, and created such a vivid and completely picture of what was going on within these few moments with these characters.
“Cathedral” by Raymon Carver was made up of noticeably short sentences that made the work very easy to read and understand what was going on. Carver’s choice of sentence length, especially at the beginning when the husband was filling us in on background information to set the scene of the story, made it feel rushed. It was as if a friend was quickly informing you of something that happened a week ago so that they could connect it to something that happened to them more recently. Using this structure in my opinion is an attempt to quickly establish a bond between the reader and the characters, allowing for the reader to be able to relate to the characters early on. This is needed, especially in a short story, so that the author can spark the reader’s empathy for the characters. I also thought that the point of view is what made the story interesting. Anyone could have written the same story in the eyes of the wife since Carver was able to denote the exact thoughts and feelings of the wife along with the husband all from the husbands perspective. Crafting the story from the husband’s point of view allowed for us to see what the husband was thinking through the night, really letting the reader see the character development of the husband. I think it was also important to see this through the perspective of one of the individuals who was being introduced to someone new, especially someone who had a predetermined outlook on someone who they had never met just because they are blind. It was entertaining to observe the shift in acceptance of Robert by the husband throughout the work.
Cathedral is a story about a blind man who is invited to the narrator’s house and the narrator’s feelings towards the whole situation. From the start, it’s clear that the narrator has heard good things about this blind man. When the narrator is informed that the blind man will be staying with them, he voices his reservations about the idea. I appreciate the author’s ability to show the narrator’s inexperience and uncertainty with both a man he’s never met, and man who is also blind. This behavior is highlighted through a realistic portrayal of unfamiliarity and awkwardness in the form of general silence broken up by unfulfilling small talk.
Alternatively, the blind man expresses his experience in life through short comments. This trait shines in the subtle wisdom and a derived familiarity with those inexperienced with the blind. The blind man sets an example by trying something new in the house of the narrator. This action I viewed, was a way of silently breaking down barriers an allowing for the narrator to follow the example.
In the end the narrator and the blindman reach an understanding which allows them to get over the barriers that had initially barred them from being able to effectively coexist.
I thought the first person point of view was an interesting choice in this story, but I think it really works because the single point of view we get in the story really helps to solidify how this character doesn’t see from others point of view, he is restricted to his preconceived ideas and views until the end of the story when he closes his eyes to his point of view and “opens” them to another.
I think the craft element I noticed most while reading this short story was subtext. The author describes a lot about the main character without explicitly stating it, something which I think is critical to building a complex and interesting character. I really like how throughout the story, you could hear the narrator’s demeanor towards the blind man softened, even if it was still harsh by the end. The way the narrator’s internal monologue is phrased makes us learn so much more about how he feels about small interactions (like his internal anger at the blind man calling him “Bub” but his lack of advocating this fact). Not only did the word choice of the narration help us learn about the character’s personality, it also gave us insight into his insecurities; Even though the story never says it, you can feel the man’s seething jealousy as his wife engages with the blind man.
I really enjoyed the decision to describe things in the other senses that weren’t sight, I feel like it is close to an attempt you can make to simulate what it feels like to be a blind person to an audience that is obviously not blind if they are reading the book. I think it was a rally interesting a fun choice that the author made for the story and I really think it helps supports the themes and messages of the story without being an overt part of the narrative, I liken it to the use of speech bubbles in comic books, even though the speech bubbles obviously aren’t real and only serve us as the audience, the design and motifs in different speech bubbles can tell you a lot about the characters from who they stem from. Even though this story may not be from the blind characters perspective, in fact we are in a completely different characters point of view which would have made it easy to describe how things looked within the story, I feel as if though we get a really good idea, or at least as close as we can get idea, to the sense of the blind characters experience of the world.
13 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
One element of this story I really enjoyed was the internal monologue versus the external dialogue. As the audience, it made me feel like I was inside the brain of the narrator while also a fly on the wall. The continuation of rhetorical questions or internally answering another characters question pointed me toward the mood or tone of the narrator. I could read their emotions toward the situation without the narrator having to go beyond saying he didn’t want the blind man there. From an engagement aspect, the internal aspects kept me going. I too was thinking about some of the questions the narrator posed in his internal monologue. Mulling over the possible answers in an attempt to further understand the story. Overall, I think the internal monologue heightened the level of reflection one may have with this story. It left so many questions posed and unanswered, even the end itself.
Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” follows the narrator having a blind man, Robert, who is an old friend of his wife’s, stay at his home, with his view on Robert transforming throughout the short story. Carver utilizes the first-person-perspective characteristic of books such as ‘The Hunger Games’ or short stories like “The Yellow Wallpaper” to illustrate the character of the narrator’s feelings, especially towards Robert. Initially, the narrator expresses apathy to Robert himself, though he expresses discomfort at the notion of when his wife allowed Robert to feel her face with his hands, and a sort of disgust at the thought of Robert’s wedding and marriage to his late wife, Beulah. The narrator also admits in his internal monologue that his perception of blind people is entirely formed by television. All of this indicates a closed-minded individual, and left me expecting for something ‘bad’ to happen between the narrator and Robert, especially as the tension in the dinner scene built with the lack of conversation. However, the narrator seems to obtain an appreciation and understanding of Robert’s experience of the world when they draw a cathedral together, with the narrator’s words “it’s really something” indicating a maturing from his intial coldness to a more curious, kinder individual. I found it really impressive how this was done in such a short amount of time without it feeling rushed in terms of pacing.
Raymond Carter’s “Cathedral” was really well written. I really enjoyed so much about this piece. It left me wondering about a lot of things, while also painting such a clear picture of what was happening within the pages. In the few short pages we were understand the depth and background of each character, and understand the importance of these characters. While I had some trouble following the beginning explanation of the story before Robert arrived to their house, explaining the wife and how the women met Robert, I was able to grasp the depth of the story. I also really liked how the ending left us with so much to think about. Did the husband ever understand the blind man? Did he ever realize the impact the blind man left on him, and the impact he had left on his wife’s life? I think overall this story leaves a lot to think about, and really leaves the reader wanting more. While the point of these shorter stories is to leave us wondering, it really did a good job creating this aura of questions and thinking that will be left with it. Overall, I really liked this story. I think the writing style really sucked you in, and created such a vivid and completely picture of what was going on within these few moments with these characters.
After reading Cathedral the story I felt had a little of hidden messages which kept things interesting. You can also see character growth as the story comes to an end. In the beginning the husband was very anti blind people due to the stereotyping ideas that blind people are slow and grumpy. The husband was very sarcastic at first when discussing about the old mans stay to his wife. Towards the end we start to see the old man and husband begin to bond while smoking and watching TV while his wife is asleep. He even begins to open his mind up and have empathy for the old man. A hidden message I noticed throughout the short story was the constant bringing up about drinking. This made me come to think that the husband might have a drinking/substance problem as he explains him and his wife never go to bed at the same time as he’ll stay up late smoking alone and drinking while watching TV. An overall message I got from this story was the idea of empathy and not judging a book by its cover and assuming stereotypes.
Within the short story “Cathedral” we can see a variety of storytelling techniques. What stood out to me the most was how casual the writing style seemed. It was more like the author, Carver, was having a conversation with his listeners or letting them listen in on the main character’s internal monologue than the usual narration style I see when I am reading. I also appreciate how willing Carver was to make the narrator unlikeable. He did not shy away from writing down the character’s less than kind thoughts. Through this technique, however, we were able to see how the mindset of the narrator changes. When the narrator is a cynical and judgmental man it is all the more powerful when he finally lets go and allows for Robert to help him let loose.
After reading “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, some of the literary devices I took note of while reading included his use of situational irony, his use of audience relation through that situational irony, his use of imagery, and his uses of dialogue throughout the short story. From my own perspective, I feel that if I was in our narrator’s shoes, I would not have known how to navigate meeting a blind man and feeling jealous of him over the years only to meet him in person and have my wife flaunt over him in ways she’s never exhibited towards me either. Our narrator’s feelings of jealousy towards a blind man after degrading him and having an innate bias that he was “lesser” shows the readers how Carver’s use of irony and audience relation progress his feelings of angst and discomfort with not only the blind man as a human but towards his wife’s relationship with the guest. This also shows how real our character is, which also relates to the audience and shows our character is not perfect- something everyone experiences. By using the writing craft of the six senses, including taste, and using words that cater to feeling stuffed after they finished all the food, Carver’s also catering to audience relation. Other literary devices that I noticed throughout the story were Carver’s use of the setting, and his use of imagery, and the other six senses that also seemed to play a role throughout the short story; giving it a realer feeling that acted as a gateway for the audience to feel a relation to the story as well. His use of dialogue throughout “Cathedral” is also a larger literary device that he leans towards throughout the short story, revealing different character’s motivations and facilitating the story’s general progression overall. I found myself really enjoying this short story because of the intriguing plot and how relatable it felt as I was reading- you felt jealous of the blind man alongside the narrator, which is hard to do, which makes me wonder what Raymond Carver’s wiring process consists of.
Q 1: I’m wondering how his thought process of writing a story about a blind man came about?
Q 2: I’m wondering what the thought process of writing short stories vs writing poetry is like?
One of the most prominent parts of Cathedral, I find, is the development of how the narrator views Robert. When he first hears about Robert, the narrator admits to having an opinion based more on what he’s seen in movies and his thoughts on Robert are judgemental. He seems uncomfortable around Robert, partially because of those limited biases but also seemingly because of the level of comfortability between his wife and Robert. As the evening progresses, the narrator seems to grow more comfortable with Robert, though is obviously awkward in the way one would be around a stranger. It’s only once his wife falls asleep and the narrator is left alone with Robert that they have a real conversation. The narrator begins to describe cathedrals to Robert, but upon realizing he can’t do it very well, Robert has the narrator draw a cathedral for him. What is drawn isn’t said or specified or anything, as it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the narrator closes his eyes when Robert tells him to and doesn’t open them when Robert asks how their drawing looks. What matters is that the narrator is viewing the world the same way Robert does; he has moved past his previous bias, past his discomfort with Robert, and is looking at the world with new eyes, or no eyes at all.
Raymond Carter’s “Cathedral” was really well written. I really enjoyed so much about this piece. It left me wondering about a lot of things, while also painting such a clear picture of what was happening within the pages. In the few short pages we were understand the depth and background of each character, and understand the importance of these characters. While I had some trouble following the beginning explanation of the story before Robert arrived to their house, explaining the wife and how the women met Robert, I was able to grasp the depth of the story. I also really liked how the ending left us with so much to think about. Did the husband ever understand the blind man? Did he ever realize the impact the blind man left on him, and the impact he had left on his wife’s life? I think overall this story leaves a lot to think about, and really leaves the reader wanting more. While the point of these shorter stories is to leave us wondering, it really did a good job creating this aura of questions and thinking that will be left with it. Overall, I really liked this story. I think the writing style really sucked you in, and created such a vivid and completely picture of what was going on within these few moments with these characters.
“Cathedral” by Raymon Carver was made up of noticeably short sentences that made the work very easy to read and understand what was going on. Carver’s choice of sentence length, especially at the beginning when the husband was filling us in on background information to set the scene of the story, made it feel rushed. It was as if a friend was quickly informing you of something that happened a week ago so that they could connect it to something that happened to them more recently. Using this structure in my opinion is an attempt to quickly establish a bond between the reader and the characters, allowing for the reader to be able to relate to the characters early on. This is needed, especially in a short story, so that the author can spark the reader’s empathy for the characters. I also thought that the point of view is what made the story interesting. Anyone could have written the same story in the eyes of the wife since Carver was able to denote the exact thoughts and feelings of the wife along with the husband all from the husbands perspective. Crafting the story from the husband’s point of view allowed for us to see what the husband was thinking through the night, really letting the reader see the character development of the husband. I think it was also important to see this through the perspective of one of the individuals who was being introduced to someone new, especially someone who had a predetermined outlook on someone who they had never met just because they are blind. It was entertaining to observe the shift in acceptance of Robert by the husband throughout the work.
Cathedral is a story about a blind man who is invited to the narrator’s house and the narrator’s feelings towards the whole situation. From the start, it’s clear that the narrator has heard good things about this blind man. When the narrator is informed that the blind man will be staying with them, he voices his reservations about the idea. I appreciate the author’s ability to show the narrator’s inexperience and uncertainty with both a man he’s never met, and man who is also blind. This behavior is highlighted through a realistic portrayal of unfamiliarity and awkwardness in the form of general silence broken up by unfulfilling small talk.
Alternatively, the blind man expresses his experience in life through short comments. This trait shines in the subtle wisdom and a derived familiarity with those inexperienced with the blind. The blind man sets an example by trying something new in the house of the narrator. This action I viewed, was a way of silently breaking down barriers an allowing for the narrator to follow the example.
In the end the narrator and the blindman reach an understanding which allows them to get over the barriers that had initially barred them from being able to effectively coexist.
I thought the first person point of view was an interesting choice in this story, but I think it really works because the single point of view we get in the story really helps to solidify how this character doesn’t see from others point of view, he is restricted to his preconceived ideas and views until the end of the story when he closes his eyes to his point of view and “opens” them to another.
I think the craft element I noticed most while reading this short story was subtext. The author describes a lot about the main character without explicitly stating it, something which I think is critical to building a complex and interesting character. I really like how throughout the story, you could hear the narrator’s demeanor towards the blind man softened, even if it was still harsh by the end. The way the narrator’s internal monologue is phrased makes us learn so much more about how he feels about small interactions (like his internal anger at the blind man calling him “Bub” but his lack of advocating this fact). Not only did the word choice of the narration help us learn about the character’s personality, it also gave us insight into his insecurities; Even though the story never says it, you can feel the man’s seething jealousy as his wife engages with the blind man.
I really enjoyed the decision to describe things in the other senses that weren’t sight, I feel like it is close to an attempt you can make to simulate what it feels like to be a blind person to an audience that is obviously not blind if they are reading the book. I think it was a rally interesting a fun choice that the author made for the story and I really think it helps supports the themes and messages of the story without being an overt part of the narrative, I liken it to the use of speech bubbles in comic books, even though the speech bubbles obviously aren’t real and only serve us as the audience, the design and motifs in different speech bubbles can tell you a lot about the characters from who they stem from. Even though this story may not be from the blind characters perspective, in fact we are in a completely different characters point of view which would have made it easy to describe how things looked within the story, I feel as if though we get a really good idea, or at least as close as we can get idea, to the sense of the blind characters experience of the world.