Why is the setting of Cathedral important?

Why is the setting of Cathedral important?

Their home is a very ordinary place, and this is important because it reflects on the ordinariness of the narrator and gives further meaning to the extraordinary experience of drawing the cathedral with the blind man, and the difference between the holiness of the cathedral and his home.

Where did most of Cathedral take place?

Expert Answers Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” takes place somewhere around Connecticut, although the specific city and state are never named. This is seen clearly in the first paragraph of the story: This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night.

What is the plot of Cathedral?

“Cathedral” is a short story by Raymond Carver that describes the narrator’s initial jealousy of and eventual bonding with a blind man named Robert. The narrator learns that his wife has been corresponding via cassette tape with Robert, a former employer of hers.

What is the central idea of Cathedral?

The main theme of “Cathedral” is that human connection occurs in various forms and degrees. The characters illustrate that people have different ways and abilities to connect and relate to others; some are more successful than others.

What does the beard symbolize in Cathedral?

In “Cathedral” what is the significance of Robert’s habit of touching or lifting his beard? Robert touches his beard, a physical gesture, in various ways to emphasize his words, thoughts, and feelings. The gesture emphasizes the point at the story’s end that real communication is physical.

Who are the characters in Cathedral?

Cathedral Characters

• The Narrator. The narrator is a bit of a bad boy.
• The Narrator’s Wife. Kindness, sincerity, and openness seem like significant character traits of the narrator’s wife….
• Robert. Robert seems like a great guy, someone who it would be a pleasure to know.
• Beulah. Beulah is Robert’s late wife.
• The Officer.

Why does the blind man tell the narrator to close his eyes while he is drawing?

He asks the narrator to close his eyes while he draws in order to help him free his imagination from the confines of line and shape so he can feel the essence or spirit of the cathedral. By not looking at the lines being drawn on the paper, the narrator isn’t limited by the image he is drawing.

Why isn’t the narrator happy that Robert is coming?

Robert’s wife has recently died, and he’s coming to visit the narrator and his wife. The narrator isn’t happy about this. He thinks blind people are sad and depressing. She told him she wasn’t happy with her life as an officer’s wife.

What does the cathedral symbolize?

The cathedral symbolizes to both the blind man and the narrator in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” the possibility to apprehend a whole new dimension of reality. Through drawing the cathedral with Robert, the narrator is able to gain a glimpse into a completely different world, one that he’d previously never seen.

What does the Cathedral symbolize?

What is the irony in Cathedral by Raymond Carver?

The irony of the story is not that it takes a blind man to help the narrator see the value of communication; the irony is that he only experiences his epiphany because he lacked the necessary skills to communicate the majesty of cathedral architecture to a blind man.

What does a cathedral symbolize?

The cathedral itself could be said to symbolize the power of the imagination or the knowledge that life is more than the day to day events that take up most of our time.

What is the plot of Cathedral by Raymond Carver?

Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a story about how the narrator is uncomfortable with having his wife’s blind friend, Robert, over. Roger has lost his wife, and to cope with her death, he planned to visit the narrator’s wife.

Is “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver a spiritual story?

Although Raymond Carver ‘s ” Cathedral ” is not explicitly a spiritual story, it is a spiritual story in a more implicit way. The blind man, Robert’s, visit to the narrator and his wife offers the

Irony in Cathedral. Irony occurs in every single person’s daily life. The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver tells a story in which many people in the world can connect to. From the way Carver writes the first sentence he sounds very annoyed.

What is the plot of the cathedral?

Plot summary. “Cathedral” opens with the narrator telling the reader in a conversational tone that a blind friend of his wife’s is coming to visit them. The narrator is clearly unhappy about the upcoming visit. He then flashes back to the story of how his wife met the blind man when she worked for him as a reader.