CathedralBy: Elizabeth Trefzger and Marissa

Ibarra

AUTHOR• Raymond Carver• Blue collar author• Married young and had two children.• He had to quit his education to support his family.• In 1967 he met an influential editor who helped him publish some

of his stories.• Early 1970’s, he struggled with bankruptcy, marital problems, and

alcoholism.• In the late 1970’s, he quit his drinking and continued to teach in

Syracuse University. “I’m prouder of that, that I quit drinking, than I am of anything in my life.”

• Died in 1988 of lung cancer.

PLOT SUMMARY• The narrator and his wife are a new couple.• The wife has an old friend who is coming to visit, after a long time of not

seeing each other.• The husband is not happy with this visit, he’s jealous, prejudiced, and

insecure about the relationship the blind man has with his wife.• The man arrives and they sit down for dinner.• Rising climax is when the husband realizes that the blind man is

independent and can take care of himself. After dinner they go into the living room and watch television.

• The husband tries to describe a cathedral to Robert and then becomes frustrated. Robert asks him to draw it with him.

• When the drawing is complete the narrator realizes that Robert’s way of “seeing” the world is the true way.

THEME

• Trying to understand someone else can open our eyes to a whole new way of experiencing the world.

• The blind man taught a seeing man to see.• The theme is built on the husbands lack of

vision.

CHARACTERS

• Protagonist: the husband/narrator• Antagonist: Robert, the blind man.• The protagonist is very narrow-minded and

learns to step out of his element. He becomes humble, and gets a new sense of the world.

• The narrator’s way of seeing things in a narrow-minded way build the story.

TONE AND STYLE

• The author’s mindsets and attitudes contributes highly to the theme since the main point of the story is to illustrate the importance of acceptance and open-mindedness.

SYMBOLS

• Cathedral: represents the idea of personal enlightenment, wisdom, and growth.

• Robert: stands for an event or path that leads to an expanded world that allows the individual to expand his/her point of view.