Raymond Carver, the author of Cathedral, wrote the following in an article about literature: "It is possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things -- a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring -- with immense, even startling, power. It is possible to write a line of seemingly innocuous dialogue and have it send a chill along the reader's spine. That's the kind of writing that most interests me."
After reading, re-reading, and annotating Cathedral (I have noticed that many of you are skipping steps two and three, i. e. you are reading but not studying), choose a passage or line to discuss that strikes you as masterfully written. Masterful writing, by the way, need not be deadly serious. Power is power, whether used in the service of humor, irony, or the pulpit. Explain your reasons for your choice and respond to the choices of your colleages.
Reminder: (1) Get a copy of Perrine's Sound & Sense: Introduction to Poetry (ed. 9, 10, 11, or 12) and bring it the first day of class after finals. (2) Get a copy of Crime and Punishment and get started -- discussion begins right after the poetry unit. (4) Have a lovely weekend!
If you have lost your copy, you may find it at: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/cinichol/GovSchool/Cathedral2.htm
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36 comments:
He doesn't have a name, right? Can we call him Bub?
"I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else's eyes. But if you looked close, there was something different about them. Too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it. Creepy. As I stared at his face, I saw the left pupil turn in toward his nose while the other made an effort to keep in one place. But it was only an effort, for that eye was on the roam without his know it or wanting it to be" (451).
Once I read, "I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair," I expected him to simply say that he couldn't tell where the blind man was looking. From the way he was talking about Robert in the beginning of the story, I got the impression that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with him and he wanted to avoid him as much as possible. However, this intricate description shows how fascinated he was by the man and the fact that he was blind. I think that before he met him, he kept calling him "blind man" and thought nothing more of him. He didn't know what to expect. When he finally meets Robert and sees him in person, he says, "At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else's eyes." But then he says, "If you looked close, there was something different about them."
You can tell he is slightly interested in him once he starts to describe Robert's eyes in detail. When you experience something for the first time, you usually remember it vividly... It kind of reminds me of a child seeing a clown of the first time or something. Terrifying!! (Not that blind people are terrifying.) But you notice the details you wouldn't normally notice, and everything about them that you have never seen before. I love how he describes the pupils as if they had their own minds and legs. When I read the description of the pupils "roaming" around in his eyes, I got the image of of fish swimming around in his head. I felt as if I were the person looking at Robert.
I also liked the part when "Bub" said, "The truth is, cathedrals don't mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They're something to look at on light-night TV. That's all they are" (457). Just because he is talking to this man who has no idea what anything looks like, and I think he realizes that Robert values everything on a completely different level. The smallest, most seemingly insignificant things are important to him. Bub's view is similar to his opinion of blind people. He is apathetic. They're just people who move slowly, never laugh, and wear dark glasses. That's all they are. They aren't anything special to him.
I also connected it back to the part when Bub was talking about Robert and Beulah. He felt bad for her because he assumed that it must have been hard to be married to a man who never even knew what she looked like. He said "Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved" (450). I thought that was ignorant and shallow. He kind of reminded me of a less cynical version of Jacob.
Twas a good story.
Sharon, that was a good analysis. In your first excerpt, I thought this phrase was really interesting: "...balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there.” This read to me as a projection of the narrator’s opinion that the disability of blindness was a major burden on Robert. I thought how this opinion of bub's, that the blindness curbed Robert's ability to understand, changed was the central theme of the story.
Most of the writing had little punchy statements dispersed throughout, but this phrase was, to me, the most powerful:
"We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn’t talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed the table. We were into serious eating."
Although I'm not sure how much this excerpt relates to the main ideas of the story, it was very masterfully written. Is it Anaphora? I think so. On top of the repetition of "we," he used very powerful verbs that were easily visualized. Instead of mundanely saying "eating," he added "scarfing" and "grazing." I could see easily see the dinner: bub, his wife, and Robert eating with absolute concentration, finishing off everything. I also liked how he added a subtle development of how they were eating: “We ate. We scarfed. We grazed the table." It gave the sense that they started out rapidly and slowed down to finish off everything. Finally, I loved how he ended the train of repetition with "We were into serious eating." This was the thesis that summed up the developing anaphora; their dinner wasn't light, but "serious," not only in their approach to eating, but the mood and feeling as well.
"Keep them that way," he said. He said, "Don't stop now. Draw." So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now."
At first, "Bub" can only think of Robert as a "blind man." His disconnection with other people and their differences is unsettling. Before Robert even comes to visit, Bub thinks of him as a burden because of his blindness. He even criticizes his deceased wife's name! However, his perception of Robert changes when he meets him for the first time. I think Bub becomes fascinated by Robert's upbeat personality and positive outlook on life. Bub is not blind, but is bitter and ungrateful about his own life. It is ironic that he pitied Robert, but later finds that he is the one who should be pitied.
Robert does not possess the physical ability of seeing, but has the gift of understanding people. When he tells Bub to draw the cathedral with his eyes closed, he shows him his own world. Robert can look past Bub's ignorance and help him understand another point of view.
I think the neatest thing about this story is the subtle but complete transformation that Bub goes through. At the end, when he's tracing the cathedral with Robert, I was expecting him to shy away from touching the blind man. I'm not sure if there's more to this moment than accepting people different from you, but I liked the idea of a man who had said "I don't have any blind friends" (9) be able to relate to him in some sort of way.
For simplistic and powerful writing, this story has ttoonnss. I like that Bub referred to his wife as 'my wife'. There were no terms of endearment before it either, just 'my wife'. She was a possession.
I think the most masterfully written section was:
"Robert was left with a small insurance policy and a half of a twenty-peso Mexican coin. The other half of the coin went into the box with her. Pathetic. So when the time rolled around, my wife went to the depot to pick him up. With nothing to do but wait--sure, I blamed him for that--I was having a drink and watching TV when I heard the car pull into the drive."
I liked the first part because that's the type of story that most people go 'awwh!!' over, and all he said was "Pathetic." He also described the situation as if he was telling a story that took more effort than it was worth. He also doesn't say coffin, just "box". This is a simple word for coffin, and de-romances death...I found it interesting.
In the next part he measures time in his drinks again. He also said "sure, I blamed him for that" and it took me by surprise. I was so absorbed in the words that I didn't even think of accusing him. Bub immediately strikes back as if the reader had judged him.
I also like that time was measured in drinks. There's no mention of hours passing, just how many drinks were consumed. Because time isn't mentioned there's a strong stream of consciousness feeling.
I couldn't understand some parts of this story. For instance, why does Robert continually lift and drop his beard? Or why does Bub make such a huge deal about not being able to describe a cathedral?
My passage is only a short but powerful statement made by the nameless blind man. "Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, Bub? Well, it's a strange life, we all know that"
(457).
I think this quote addresses the wealth of irony in this story. The narrator (Bub?) sees the world in a very black-and-white way. Things happen in very simple, cause-and-effect ways. This is illustrated in his short, matter-of-fact sentences. Most of this story is a stream-of-consciousness from Bub, and most of his thoughts are basic and to the point.
The blind man helps Bub see that things are not always as simple as they seem. Although he is blind, he clearly can many things much better than Bub and his wife. Bub is always uptight and stressed out, while the Blind man knows that there is more to life than just existing. His blindness has forced him to appreciate things in the ways that he can. When Bub says he doesn't enjoy poetry, I think it is because he is so caught up in the elementary value of things, and he doesn't worry about specifics. The blind man appreciates things as a whole.
Bub's character is ironic as well. In some situations he appears very relaxed. He smokes pot, and wastes away hours just watching television. In contrast, he also cannot imagine meeting the blind man and is completely afraid of new things. You would think such a laid back man would not be so freaked out by an unassuming blind man.
I liked this story the best of the three we've read. I really appreciate Carver's simplistic style. Too often writers (myself included) try to put a tuxedo on something that only needs jeans and a tee-shirt. Just because something is simply written does not mean it's poorly written.
But instead of dying, she got sick...Over the years, she put all kind sof stuff on tapes and sent the tapes of lickety-split...I heard my own name in the mouth of this stranger, this blind man I didn't even know!...I'd heard all I wanted to. Now this same blind man was coming to sleep in my house" (9-10).
I really liked this paragraph because his writing is very simplistic, almost choppy, but it makes the situation seem very real. In the first part of the paragraph and in the paragraph before it, I thought Bub was describing himself in third person as the "childhood sweetheart" because the tone seemed bitter but also confused. Then, in this paragraph I realized Bub was her second husband, and it kind of changed the point of view of the story, and I thought that was interesting.
Also, I think Bub is afraid of how close Robert is to his wife. He's curious to know what Robert said about him, but at the same time pretends that he doesn't care. The line in Paragraph 10 gives him away though, because he's unsure about what to expect from this strange man. I think Bub fears that Robert is judging him and is even influencing his wife's attitude towards him. This paragraph shows his uneasiness with Robert and foreshadows the reluctant and unusual meeting that's yet to come.
First off kudos to Sharon, not only for a great analysis, but for having the courage to tackle this first. I really liked this story, I've read it 3 times now (without writing on it at all, sorry Ms. Minor) and I can't say why I like it but I really do. I would like to discuss, of course Bub's transformation but also I observed a couple of other things.
Robert, who later becomes a very engaging man, completely ignores Bub while the wife is awake. The man though he clearly loves his wife, and is rather jealous of Robert for their relationship, always refers to his wife's past dispassionately and impersonally.
On the main topic of Bub's transformation my thoughts really do mirror Sharon's quite a bit, but rather than comparing him to Jacob I see a distinct similarity to the concept of "fascination with the abomination" that was discussed in relation to Heart of Darkness. The difference is that unlike the characters in that book, Bub has to be willed to explore this wilderness, he is apathetic towards it, almost antagonistic until he too is drawn in. Robert is like the forest but he has to work harder before he ensnares his "explorer." It is no wonder that the wife loves Robert so much, he seems really interesting.
As to the writing, I think it was brilliant, he had Dickensian description, as in they were long, and specific. Without the negatives, as in they were actually insightful, interesting, and drew me in to the story rather than making me tune out. I think that Ms. Minor said this is the guy who won a Pulitzer Prize for short stories, and he certainly deserves it.
"We dug in. We ate everthing there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating... We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie. Foyr a few moments, we sat as if stunned. Sweat beaded on our faces."
This passage is describing a simple, commonplace event that occurs everyday. Carver, however, makes the event unique. He makes it seem as though Bub, the blind man, and his wife experienced a hunger that was immense, unlike any other. They "ate," "scarfed," "grazed," and most interestingly "they were into serious eating." "Serious eating?" Who knew that one could eat serious. We merely think of eating as a mindless habitual activity that takes 3 allotted times out of our day. However, Carver used this commonplace event and transformed it into a unique passage. It's short and choppy sentences make it to the point and important. Each sentence reflects a more powerful approach to eating-- ate, scarfed, grazed.
After writing this and reading other responses, I realized that I picked the same exact passage as Neelay... Woops.
I think of all the short stories we've read (and studied) this is my favorite. It is much more applicable to my own life and just seems to have a good message that can be enjoyed by anyone. I sat down to read ti hesitantly, but I read through it so fast that I hoped that there was more.
My favorite portion of the story was the following:
"I turned to the blind man and said, 'To begin with, they're very tall.' I was looking around the room for clues.'They reach way up. Up and up. Toward the sky. They're so big, some of them, they have to have these supports. To hold them up, so to speak....I am not doing so good, am I?'"(456).
There is no way for me to relate to being blind. I think we all just assume everyone sees life in the same way we do and everything that is fact to us, is seen (no pun intended) as fact to someone else.
When Bub (slurred "Bob" perhaps??) has to try and tell a blind man about the appearance of a cathedral, he finally realizes that "tall" and "up" mean nothing to someone who is blind. A blind man has no idea what defines tall in comparison to short.
I think we can apply this to many aspects of life. Our perspective cannot be applied to every person on the fac of this earth. Everyone sees, hears, and thinks differently. It is simply ignorant to think that everyone views issues in the same way we do.
Perhaps Carver is trying to use this wonderful short story to try and tell us something about perspective. It is never the same. Always be open to new ideas and ways of thinking.
Good choice Ms. Minor, I really enjoyed this one. It won't be finding it's way to the recycling bin any time soon.
ALl right here goes nothing, my passage is the one where Robert is talking about cathedral construction workers,
"The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?"
I found this to be an especially intriguing passage. Of course Robert can't see anything he completes, so the fact that he says that is interesting because in a way he is uniting himself and Bub. I guess i can agree that they will both be blind to the full impact of their lifes work, and so will all of us.
I think this was a very good story, it made me think of blind people (really anyone who has a different perspective than me) in a different way. In this regard I agree with what Jonathan has said, that this effect on the reader is exactly what Carver intended.
I am surprised Carver pulled his message off with the simple language that he used. I've never read something like that before, with such short and choppy sentences that carried so much meaning.
Great analyses everyone! Like others have said, this story is definitely my favorite of the ones we have read. It is applicable to our own lives, and the themes just seemed to connect with me more.
I really liked a couple of passages, among them Neel's choice, Natalie's choice, and James' choice. All aspects of this story seem to be important in some way or another, something I don't feel with a lot of stories. As James said, the story was very simply written, and not dressed up in a "tuxedo on something that only needs jeans and a tee-shirt."
Among all of the masterfully written passages, my favorite was:
"I’ve never met, or personally known, anyone who was blind. This blind man was late forties, a heavy-set, balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light-brown shirt, a tie, a sports coat. Spiffy. He also had this full beard. But he didn’t use a cane and he didn’t wear dark glasses. I’d always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wish he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like anyone else’s eyes. But if you looked close, there was something different about them. Too much white in the iris, for one thing, and the pupils seemed to move around in the sockets without his knowing it or being able to stop it. Creepy. As I stared at his face, I saw the left pupil turn in toward his nose while the other made an effort to keep in one place. But it was only an effort, for that one eye was on the roam without his knowing it or wanting it to be."
I found this passage to be interesting for the sheer description. From the beginning of the story, I got the feeling that the narrator was one who did not think highly of blind people. As his wife said, "If you love me...you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable." I feel that the narrators wife is putting him in a tough position on purpose, simply so that he can learn to appreciate her old friend.
By the time the blind man became comfortable in the narrator's home, I sensed that the narrator was curious about the blind man, as evidenced by my choice passage. The way that the man was described, you would never know that he was blind. In fact, he is described as an individual who is "spiffy." But once the narrator starts to describe the lack of dark glasses, I sensed the bias of the narrator towards blind people. The clothes were "spiffy," but the physical features "creepy." The kicker was when the narrator noticed the increased amount of white in the eye and the uncoordinated movements of the two eyes.
This story was great overall. I hope we read more like it in the near future.
"But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
“Well?” he said. “Are you looking?”
My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.
“It’s really something,” I said.
I thought this conclusion was fantastic. It continues the flow of the story without a formal way of ending, but it still carries a powerful message that let me internalize the themes of the story. It's so informal in that its dialogue. But the developed maturity, understanding, and the clear void of Bub's self consciousness is seen itself in his confidence.
"My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything." Here I saw Bub's epiphanic realization of his problems- from which his insecurity made him uneasy around the disabled person.
“It’s really something,” I said."
This was almost like Bub redeemed himself. The tone of his speech is completely different and I thought he was beginning to realize the depth and ability of Robert as something to look up to.
Thanks guys :)
James you put it perfectly:
"The blind man helps Bub see that things are not always as simple as they seem. Bub is always uptight and stressed out, while the Blind man knows that there is more to life than just existing."
I couldn't really put together exactly what I thought of Bub but what you said is true.. He is just existing. He just smokes and stays up as late as possible watching TV while his wife takes pleasure in more meaningful activities.
This might sound kind of weird, but I felt the atmosphere of the room completely changed when they started smoking together. It's not that they didn't start bonding until they decided to get high, but it seemed like Robert was opening up to Bub a little more by smoking with him. I think when the wife asked Robert if he smoked and he said, "I do now, my dear," he was showing Bub that he wasn't just there to impress his wife. It was obvious from the beginning that Bub felt threatened by the "blind man".
I noticed that Bub also started to be more honest with him and appreciative after that. In the beginning he said "I didn't want to be left alone with a blind man." In the end, his perspective completely changed. His eyes were opened when he decided to close them them.
:\ Someone think of a better way to phrase that lame paradox.........
I really liked the 4th paragraph.
"The poem wasn't finished yet, She was still writing it. The blind man made a tape. He sent her the tape. She made a tape. This went on for years."
The sentences are really short and keep coming right after one other, but instead of creating a choppy kind-of feeling, I thought that it flowed off your tongue really well.
"Anyway, this man who'd first enjoyed her favors, the officer-to-be, he'd been her childhood sweetheart. So okay. I'm saying that at the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said good-bye to him, married her childhood etc., who was now a commissioned officer, and she moved away from Seattle."
I also thought that the first part of the paragraph was funny. The whole paragraph had a sort of scornful feel to it, as though Bub didn't like what he was telling and was just spewing out facts and events.
There was another passage that really caught my attention.
"I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair. At first glance, his eyes looked like ... for that eye was on the roam without his knowing it or wanting it to be."
Sharon mentioned that she expected Bub wanted to Robert to wear glasses because he didn't know where Robert was looking and I also was anticipating this. The way the eyes are described is very as Bub would say it, "Creepy". It's too well described that its a bit disturbing.
Like Neelay, the last passage also stood out to me. During most of the article, the mood was hostile and somewhat uninterested, but this passage completely takes a different turn. It's powerful because it is full of depth and contrasts the rest of the article. Personally, the passage made me reflect on my own life and realize that we all need some time to think, be still, and search deep within ourselves, a thing that Bub had not really done.
In this passage, I also saw more humility in Bub. He finally understands that he needs to look deeper into himself and into others and break through his superficiality. Like Neelay said, the passage "carries a powerful message" and ties in the purpose of the article. This passage is powerful because it makes one introspect, think about the purpose of the article, and look deeper into the overall message that is portrayed.
Natalie: I didn't really see any symbolism in Robert continually lifting and dropping his beard? Maybe its just one of his habits.
Sharon: Good job on your analysis! You definitely made me reconsider the significance of that passage. I agree, it does reveal important things about Bub.
James: You made a great point. Just because something is simply written does not mean it's poorly written.
Diya & Neelay: I also noticed all the choppy sentences Carver uses. I don't completely understand why there were so many choppy sentences. Do you?
A masterful line comes from Bub; “Her officer—why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?—”
This line's power comes from the absolutely irreverent attitude towards the officer and how that fits Bub's character; Bub's wife may have been in love with someone else earlier, but Bub's the one who has her now. Bub got what he wanted so he doesn't need to care anymore.
But there's a layer of irony below this; Bub's name is never given; there's still a chance that someone in the future will say the exact same about Bub.
A line that's outwardly appealing and yet has irony tucked underneath; now that's a masterpiece.
Sharon; The atmosphere of the room completely changes because Robert and Bub can have a one on one conversation. He's no longer just “that guy my wife knows,” he becomes just another guy to know. People are different when they're having a one on one conversation.
"But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up. Her officer--why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?--came home from somewhere, found her, and called the ambulance. In time, she put it all on tape and sent the tapes to the blind man." (449)
"But instead of dying, she got sick. She threw up." It puts it rather bluntly that it takes the sadness out of the fact that she tried suicide and replaces it with this more light hearted feeling.
"Her officer--why should he have a name? he was the childhood sweetheart, and what more does he want?" He doesn't even know the guy and he's taking cheap shots at him. This it funny because "Bub" doesn't want to give him anything, not even the benifit of his name in a story. It's a hint of jealousy and sarcasm that make it funny.
I don't know if this makes me a terrible person, but I laugh at him taking potshots at others. It's funny to me. Maybe I'm just nuts.
My favorite passage was: “I know they took hundreds of workers fifty or a hundred years to build,” he said. “I just heard the man say that, of course. I know generations of the same families worked on a cathedral. I heard him say that, too. The men who began their life’s work on them, they never lived to see the completion of their work. In that wise, Bub, they’re no different from the rest of us, right?”
This passage was interesting because the reader knows that Robert can never see anything that he does. Like many others this is my favorite story that we read so far this year. The writing was powerful because of the amount of details that Carver included. However, Carver did this with short sentences. I was amazed at how he was able to accomplish that. His writing reminded me of Lincoln's speeches and addresses, short and simple but they got the message across.
Michelle Gonzalez asked why Carver used so many choppy statements.
I think Carver used this approach to personally capture Bub;s growth. Short, punchy statements are only natural when the thoughts of our minds are extracted in raw form. I don't think with complex, compound statements. Just like that, these statements seemed to me as a truly intimate story actually from bub's point of view.
There were many passages in this story that I thought were masterfully written. Carver has a very distinctive style of writing that definitely shapes the mood of the story. Carver knows how to utilize and manipulate different techniques to convey an appropriate setting. I think the most obvious thing that most of us have recognized is his short, terse sentences that carry the same responsibilities as lists do. On the first two pages, almost every paragraph has at least one sentence that is three words or less. These short sentences kind of portray the narrator's character; he's very terse and almost rude at some points.
For example, on page 453, the narrator shares some of his conversation with Robert. "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?)" The narrator's responses are very short and curt, as if he only wants to share the bare minimum with Robert. Also, his rudeness peers out in his answers to Robert's questions. Carver's employment of parentheses further emphasizes the narrator's personality. It feels like that conversation had no significance or meaning; as if it was just on the side.
I also really like the fourth paragraph. "...she told the blind man about her husband and about their life together in the military. she told the blind man she loved her husbnad but she didn't like it where they lived...She told the blind man she'd written a poem and he was in it. She told him that she was writing a poem about what it was like to be an Air Force officer's wife." Carver cleverly uses repetition in this passage to further emphasize the relationship between Robert and the narrator's wife. It becomes apparent in the story that "Bub" is jealous of the intimacy that Robert and his wife share, and this passage is sort of a lead in to that emotion.
As Neel and Alex have pointed out, the passage where they're eating dinner was interesting as well. I found it somewhat weird, like they were savage animals so absorbed in their food. "We were into serious eating." I love that line. It's funny how absurd it is.
One last bit, Raymond Carver was an Oregon native, yay!
I liked these lines and I will write why briefly.
"Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one"
- I don't think this woman should be pitied. In fact, I think that Bub's character envies her resilience despite the absence of Bub's interpretation of appreciation in her life.
"This blind man was late forties, a heavy-set, balding man with stooped shoulders, as if he carried a great weight there."
- This line is a real brain hurter. I think that the simplest way to understand it is that Bub sees hardship where there is none really. My initial thought though was that the blind man was given the appearance of being pulled towards earth, as though he was more at one with his surroundings than Bub.
Natalie, you asked:
"..why does Bub make such a huge deal about not being able to describe a cathedral?"
I think that to answer your question, we need to examine the role of cathedrals in this story. Interestingly it is also the title, which means that the author assigns them a great deal of value. As with most short stories, we should ask ourselves: What do cathedrals say about the general ideas of this story?
First off, Bub says, " In those olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God. In those olden days, God was an important part of everyone’s life". I think cathedrals represent a struggle towards something beyond normal comprehension and sensation. In other words, something of such great magnificence and mystery that men struggle to become closer too. What is fascinating though is that we cannot see God!!! We are all blind to God yet we seek to assimilate ourselves with this impossible goal. I think the story also tries to make hints at how religion can save someone from emptyness, drunkness, drugs, etc. There's a lot here with religion that some other people will hopefully discuss so i don't take up a page. I am definitely of the opinion though that this story revolves around God and human elevation. How exactly does one achieve things etc... Back to Natalie's question though, the reason Bub makes such a big deal of not being able to draw them is that he is so crazed about cathedrals being magnificent and is in such awe that he forgets about them really being composed of structures that when put together become something great. this is also why Carvin deliberately includes details of how Bub draws the cathedral piece by piece and stops viewing things as a whole. This can mean two things, 1) that people need to deconstruct the reasons for their faith or that 2) people need to move towards religion in the same piece by piece manner rather than say they are religious and work backwards.
I did some research though, because i was so intrigued by this story. I looked into Carver's marriages and read about What It Used to Be Like: A Portrait of My Marriage to Raymond Carver, which is by Maryann Carver, his first wife. According to my research, In 1982, Carver and first wife, Maryann, were divorced.[1] He married Gallagher in 1988 (Wiki). This story was written in 1984.
My theory is that I think that in many ways this story was written about Carver's first wife who interestingly, according to Wiki went to an episcopal school and they were high school sweethearts. While he was a drunk, crazed, and negligent husband she maintained a more normal balanced lifestyle. In many ways, I think Carver's first wife saw things that he never did and was blind to. This blind man in the story is great friends with Bub's wife even though he cannot see anything and Bub's wife cares for him simply becomes of the companionship that he shows her. No money. No flattery. Just simple love in many ways. There was an absence of understanding between Carver and his wife that is reflected between Bub and his wife. What really convinced me was these lines:
My wife opened up her eyes and gazed at us. She sat up on the sofa, her robe hanging open. She said, “What are you doing? Tell me, I want to know.”
I didn’t answer her.
followed by
My wife said, “What’s going on? Robert, what are you doing? What’s going on?”
“It’s all right,” he said to her.
Isn't this interesting? The wife seems to overreact to Bub's process of discover and does not understand what he is all about. The blind man has to answer for him in both cases to comfort the wife and tell her its okay.
Bottom line, basically, I think that Carver's story says that him and his wife had differences that led to misunderstandings. This is played out with Carver's analysis on God, religion and faith.
Lastly, I see the blind man as also being a representation of Bub's introspection. As though when the blind man asks him questions it is he himself who is asking the questions. Didn't anyone else find it odd that Bub said "We should pray" at the dinner table and then said that he wasn't religious when the blind man asked him?
His response to that question in fact was :
"I shook my head. He couldn’t see that, though. A wink is the same as a nod to a blind man. “I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it’s hard. You know what I’m saying?”
It's hard, believing in things so great and mysterious, just like it is hard to draw a cathedral, but when you take it piece by piece things can happen. The process of discovery faith etc.
This post is very disorganized, so I apologize. Hopefully you guys can read it and get a sense of what I'm trying to get at and take it from there.
my blog post above, i just realized, was outrageously long.
Oh i forgot to mention this above. A justification for why the blind man represents Bub's process of introspection is that he is blind which means he has no vehicle of extrospection. I think this was a dead give away by Carver.
Also, good analysis by Neel in discussing choppy statements.
What I found to be bloody brilliant was how the characters seemed to be broken records in their speech. First when the wife speaks and slips in the fact that the bed is ready a few times. Second when the blind man repeats "thats what I heard him say". Finally the third time is continuously reading "draw". The part about " thats what I heard him say" could of just stood out to me because I never really hear that being said, but if you converse with a blind person about the TV show I guess you would hear it a lot.
I also found the one word sentences slightly amusing (Creepy. Crazy. Spiffy. Draw.) only because it is one of those moments where only one word is required instead of fluffing up an entire sentence.
It was funny to hear "Bub" repeat that he thought he knew everything about blind people and what what they could and could not have (a beard) or do (smoke). I did believe the end would be "Bub" figuring out not to categorize people by their flaws.
I liked the story a lot, and there are so many lines/passages I loved... so I'm just going to jot them all down.
"...She never forgot it. She even tried to write a poem about it. She was always TRYING to write a poem. She wrote a poem or two every year, usually after something really important had happened to her." (P.2)
I thought these lines were kind of funny. He says his wife was never really a writer, just someone who tried real hard to capture those important moments via words--only once or twice a year, however.
"And then this: 'from all you've said about him, I can only conclude--' But we were interrupted, a knock at the door, something, and we didn't ever get back to the tape. Maybe it was just as well. I'd heard all I wanted to." (P. 5)
This passage raises a question: What did the blind man really gather about the husband from the tapes?
"And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved... her last though maybe this: that he never even knew what she looked like, and she on an express to the grave." (P. 16)
I think this was very powerful, describes the narrator's perplexion with the blind. He wonders just how deeply the love between the blind man and his wife could have possibly been--being that he NEVER could see her physical appearance. But I think the narrator comes to realize--in his epiphany at the end--one can learn to see without eyes, in a very different, perhaps more effective and meaningful way.
Also thought the prayer at dinner time was comical.
"Pray the phone won't ring and the food doesn't get cold." Sounds like a starving man. I think this also solidifies his non-reliegious views. He doesn't take it seriously. It almost sounds like he does it just because he feels like he should, being that he has a guest in the house, and it probably would be the appropriate and respectful thing to do.
I felt a jealous tone dispersed throughout the story as well.
"They talked of things that had happened to them--to them!--these past ten years." followed by: 'And then my husband came into my life'--something like that. But I heard nothing of the sort. More talk of Robert...a regular blind Jack of all trades."
My absolute favorite part was the ending. All of it. I loved how he started out drawing a picture of a cathedral to help the blind man see, but in the end, the picture actually led him to a clearer understanding--of something. By closing his eyes, the man learned to see. And his vision of the blind totally changed.
"My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything at all..." It's kind of an abrupt ending. But I think it's one that instills powerful imagery--an image that sticks with you. You can vividly see him sitting on the floor, just thinking... with legs crossed, eyes closed, ballpoint pen in hand, his wife whining in the background desperately wanting to know what's going on, and an amazed expression painted across his face.
"It really is something," he said.
"He wore brown slacks, brown shoes, a light brown shirt, a tie, a sports coat. Spiffy. He also had this full beard. But he didn't use a cane and he didn't wear dark glasses. I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind. Fact was, I wished he had a pair."
I think that it is so interesting how much Bub is focusing on Robert's appearance, and actually feeling uncomfortable about what he is seeing. He seems to be surprised that Robert's dress seems as decent as any normal, seeing male. I think that Bub is uncomfortable about being able to see Robert's eyes, because throughout the story Bub seems to want to not really dwell too much on specific relevant things, he just tries to accept them and walk right along without glancing back. Bub seems like he would feel more comfortable with some dark lensed aviators on Robert, as if they would make Robert any different, yet they would hide any physical evidence of blindness to Bub.
I really like the style of Carver's writing. It's really casual and almost sarcastic. There are some things you read and you pretty much expect whatever happens next but I didn't get that at all with this story. I just couldn't figure the guy out. And I liked that.
I really liked the dinner table scene. It seems so awkward but comfortable at the same time. Carver's writing is so simple: "we didn't talk. we ate. we scarfed. we grazed that table" (452). I tried to picture myself in this scene and what I would have done and I can't really. It seems like it would have been awkward. But it wasn't and I just love it.
I also like the scene when the wife falls asleep and Robert and 'Bub' are left to one another. In the beginning he acted hastily toward the man and unwelcoming and during that scene when he gets one-on-one time with him he opens up and realizes how great this man is. They become more personal when Robert begins to call the man "Bub."
When the two draw the cathedral together, it's like the blind man can see things more clearly than 'bub' himself. His perspective about the blind changes completely here. He finishes the drawing in awe.
I think the most amazing thing about this story and Carvin's writing style is how he made an extremely unusual event easy to relate to. The causual speech and random thoughts of the narrator helped readers, especially students, easily understand his feelings.
"Of course, I didn’t tell her that. Maybe I just don’t understand poetry. I admit it’s not the first thing I reach for when I pick up something to read."
This quote kind of reminds me of us students in Ap lit. I'm sure many of us would not normally pick up Hamlet to read for fun. But when we did give it a chance, we were able to learn a lot from Shakespeare. Likewise, I bet if Bub read his wife's poetry, he would be more likely to understand her relationship with Robert and maybe understand himself more.
When Bub took the time to really explain to Robert what a cathedral is through the drawing, he was able to truly appreciate something. Even if it may have seemed insignificant.
As I read on to the second paragraph a sentence already struck me as odd and interesting. When the main character described his wife’s past love experience he used, “but she was in love with the guy, and he was in love with her, etc.” I though that the use of “etc” to take out the details was very unique and brings out a sort of humor. The description of a woman falling in love and the man also falls in love with the woman, in this case seems to be very cheesy. I really enjoyed the author’s simple and free writing style. The “etc” used at the end also acted as a transition from the wife’s relationship to what happened that summer.
When the author wrote about the wife’s childhood love later on in the 3rd paragraph he used the same technique, “I’m saying that the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said good-bye to him, married her childhood etc.” It brings out the bitterness and the jealousy the main character feels whenever he talks about his wife’s past lover. The usage of “etc” shows the unimportance of the sweetheart and the wife’s past with him.
I thought this story was good and humorous. The parts that stood out to me were the real moments I could relate to and I thought were a bit funny to imagine. For instance, onpage 449 the wife says "if you love me,' she said, 'you can do this for me...but if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I'd make him feel comfortable.'" He respondes by saying "I don't have any blind friends," and a little later, she gets angry with him. I found this a little funny (probably not funny to others) because he did seem like he was trying to figure out how to make the blind man comfortable...just didn't know how cause of his lack of contact with blind. His wife didn't seem to see that.
Also, another example is on the next page (450) and "bub" asks "'was his wife Negro?' I asked. 'Are you crazy?' my wife said. 'Have you just flipped out or something?...What's wrong with you?' she said. 'Are you drunk.?' 'I'm just asking," I said. I found it again funny because he just have a question, although ignorant, it was just a question and his wife responded hostilely.
Also what I noticed was Cavers writes short and quick sentences almost as if he were making a list. Page 452 "We dug in. we ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow, We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating."
I don't necessary think that they were fasting before hand, rather than they felt as if things were still awkward, the ice hasn't been broken yet. and so instead of talking, they were focused only on eating a mundane meal consisting of, steak, potatoes scallops,and green beans. I also found this a bit funny.
It seems to me, that while with good intentions, for most of my colleagues at least, many have been posting responses to several quotes. So, sticking with the origional directions I'm going to try hard to limit my response and analysis to only one quote, which is definitely, although much of the posters may not realize this, not neccesarily worse than analyzing several quotes. Anyhow, this short story is an excellent basis for exploring the power of masterful writing. On the surface, the story that's told is fairly mundane, the general premise of it is quite simple. The story contains no exciting sky dives, shoot outs, suicides, or jungle explorations- it consists mostly of a quiet evening at home with three people. But, despite containing no inherently thrilling events, Carver still manages to write a rather thrilling and certainly intriguing story. All of this comes down to the way he writes, the "power" that words, sentences, or paragraphs have. This is how Carver distinguishes this piece from others. One quote from Cathedral, that I thing embodies this effective writing comes as a surprise at the end of the short, "My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything." This is where Carver's writing can clearly be distinguished from that of an amatuer, like myself. What makes this quote so strong is its unexpectedness. I was expecting the narrator to open his eyes, and helf some sort of cheesy self-realization of how eye sight isn't as neccessary or what have you, as he had previously though. Carver takes the story in a slightly different direction, that adds more of a sophisticated feel. To me, it feels much more real.
i almost forgot to post, i don't think anyone will read this but here is my take. However, i would like to say beforehand that i liked this short story the most out of all the stories we have read. l felt i could relate to the story and understand why the main character was thinking the way he was.
"all this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like... hearing this, i felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit... imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one"
This passage and the the lines after this passage relating to this passage caught my attention. I, like the narrator wondered what it would be like to be in the blind man's and his wife's place. After reading the passage, i felt that we would lose so much if we lost something important as our vision. I felt sorry for both the "blind man" and his wife until i started to realized that at least the blind man was not impaired, but saw things in a different perspective. The "blind man's", for the lack of a better word, loss, made me think of how much emphasis is placed in appearance in society and how misleading it can be. Unlike most people, the blind man is not a slave to appearances and made me realize how genuine and deep his love must have been for his wife. I liked this passage despite the ignorant tone of the narrator. it was something i could relate to and question. There is so much more i want to say about this specific passage, but i'm out of time, so i guess we will discuss further in class.
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