Cathedral by Raymond Carver

In the short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the author shows how people understand a problem in a different perspective and learn how to judge a problem by their mind. This story also presents a difference between looking, which is physical vision, and seeing, which understands people.  The narrator in this story represents a person, who doesn’t know how to listen and appreciate people around him because he isolates himself to others. Robert, who is invited to the narrator house, is a blind man, but he can see people by his heart, because he knows eyes help people to see the physical thing but it can`t help people to understand others. Therefore, with a little help from Robert, he learns how to change his bad attitude, to care about his wife, and to look back at his life style.

The narrator is misconception about blind people because he thinks that blind people usually isolate themselves from the social. It is impossible for a blind man to marry a normal person, who does not have any disabilities. When he asks, “Was his wife a Negro?” there is no logical for his assumption of blind people because each person was born with different attitude. In addition, before getting married, people tend to spend time together to know more about each other. Although Robert has a physical disability, he has a beautiful gift, the ability to listen to others; it allows him to understand his wife. Often, a judgment we make are based on our mind instead of what it is.  The narrator misunderstands not only Robert but also his wife.

One thing leads to another, the narrator assumes that his wife and Robert are having an affair since she contacts with Robert. He keeps calling his wife with different names, “my wife,” or “my officer`s wife” during the story. It shows that he does not aware that his wife has sacrificed many things in her life, she losses people who she cares for because of his “military life”. She also tries to commit suicide by taking pills. In that situation, a person usually leaves her husband, or talk to friends in order to forget about the current life. There is no wonder why she contacts with her previous boss, Robert. We can understand why the narrator gets mad at her since she keeps exchanging tapes with Robert. However, the narrator doesn’t know his wife and Robert have the same emotional problem. His wife is tired of her life, and Robert has lost his wife for cancer. All of the questions and assumptions about his wife have been answered when he meets and talks to Robert.