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In the short story, Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, the narrator, dubbed Bub, is insecure and ignorant about himself and others around him.  In the story, Carver allows the reader to become engulfed in the narrator’s pessimistic, stereotypical outlook on life.  Throughout the story, Bub tries to decide what to make of his wife’s friend, Robert, a blind, open-minded and empathic man.  Together, Bub and Robert drink, smoke, watch TV, and talk about religion and cathedrals.  In the midst of it all, Bub has an epiphany.  With help from Robert, Bub comes to an understanding that blindness isn’t simply a physical impairment but can stem from ignorance.  He also realizes that by taking another’s hand, a whole new, colorful world is still in sight.

Cathedral offers many different ideas, themes and symbols.  Carver explores the idea of media and the effects it has on people, such as Bub.  Bub’s learned ignorance via the media leads to his insecurities and he continues to return to the TV when feeling insecure.  It’s as though Bub was watching his life on a black and white TV; his relationship with is wife was weak causing resentment and loneliness between the two of them; his outlook on life was pessimistic and he was jealous of a blind man for living life better than he had.  Everything was simple and life was good or bad, black or white.  Then all of a sudden, that blind man, walked into the living room where Bub was smoking his dope, turned off the black and white TV and instantly flipped on the color TV, changing the way Bub saw life and the people surrounding him.

 

I loved the short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver.  I wrote my second paper on it and therefore decided to put a little excerpt from my paper in my blog.  I'm comparing Bub to his television set he retreats to so frequently.