A Blind Man’s Lessons About Sight

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Furthermore, Carver communicates growth by allowing the narrator’s wife to build and retain friendships. One of the key aspects toward her mood is her stability, or lack thereof. When she speaks with Robert over the phone, he asks her to “send him a tape and tell him about her life” (192), and she does. However, she continues on by saying that she does not like where her husband lives and that “he was part of the military-industrial thing” (192). As an Air Force officer’s wife, one can imagine the amount of traveling and moving around that needs to be done. In fact, the amount of traveling is hinted through her tapes as she “sent tapes from Moody AFB, McGuire, McConnell, and finally Travis, near Sacramento” (192). It is apparent that much of their traveling puts a lot of stress on her, and even “feeling lonely” (192). She further “cut off from people she kept losing” (192) from moving around so much to the point where she became suicidal. The narrator’s wife even swallowed a bunch of pills and capsules and “washed them down with a bottle of gin” (192). This is crucial because it is the instability that causes her to be this way, and by meeting her new husband, the narrator, she is able to feel more secure, and perhaps, even a sense of permanence. However, this sense of secureness is threatened when the narrator and Robert has a conversation: “How long had I been in my present position? (Three years.) Did I like my work? (I didn’t.) Was I going to stay with it? (What were the options)” (196). Although the narrator exhibits the notion of stability, he is only stable because he has no other option, which indicates he is lazy or even limited to certain skills. Not to mention, he does not even like his job, nor the blind man at this point. In effect, this forms a disconnection between the narrator and his wife, further isolating her. However, after both the narrator and Robert complete the drawing of the cathedral, it is illustrated that they form a connection, and since this moment seems to be an eye opener for the narrator, his wife gains hope for him, realizing that both her husband and Robert are capable of building a lasting friendship with her.

To continue, growth and the ability to change can come from any source. An individual will never wake up one day and be a changed man. It takes something really special for a person to grow and to willingly change for him or herself, and that is shown in “Cathedral” through the creativity of connecting with one another through the hands-on experience that the narrator and the blind man had performed. The narrator needs everything from being taken out of his comfort zone, the external push, and the eventual willingness to be open and to learn. When the story gets up to this point, the narrator carries on a sense of purpose. Perhaps the narrator feels a sense of duty, to do the blind man justice because of his inability to be able to physically see and describe the cathedral. Whatever the reason being, he carries on, and that is the sense of willingness that brings growth. Never before did the narrator do anything with a real will, and it was his willingness that wakes him up. Towards the end, the story becomes like the perfect cocktail for the blind man. Robert is able to creatively show and begins to transform the narrator. Although it is unclear whether or not the relationship between Robert will continue, it is the experience that counts, particularly the beginning experiences of growth. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Work Cited

Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.” The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 191-201. Print.