Analysis of Raymond Carver's "Cathedral"

The Blindness of the Non-Blind The short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver displays one man's new found understanding and acceptance of a blind man over a relatively short period of time. The narrator represents the story's dominant theme of overcoming fear and prejudice of the blind through personal experience as well as mutual respect. The narrator who remains nameless throughout the play holds deeply unfounded beliefs and stereotypes of what a blind person should be, …

…are leading him to a negative idea. After this change takes place, he comes to see Robert as a man who is separate from his disability. Then he begins to empathize with Robert because of the narrator's lacking ability to help Robert. This leads the narrator to thorough understanding through the shared experience of the Cathedral drawing. The narrator's epiphany is not reached through slow gradual development but rather through various quick stages of transformation.