Response to "Cathedral"

This week, I decided to write my blog about "Cathedral" because of its unique perspective on blindness.

The story starts off with the narrator describing how Robert, a blind friend of his wife, had recently lost his wife and is visiting. Right from the get-go, the narrator has formed an narrow-minded prejudice against Robert. The concept of blindness is very foreign to him a creates an unsettling feeling. He expresses this when he states, "And his being blind bothered me...A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to" (99). His only true observation of a blind individual was from a movie which clearly does not depict him/her in an accurate, personable manner. The narrator also feels threatened by the strong relationship that Robert shares with his wife. As though initially very cynical of the blind man, the narrator gradually learns to figuratively lifts his own blindness and accept Robert for who he really is. The narrator passed ignorant judgment on Robert before even meeting him when he found out that his wife's name was Beluah. According to the narrator, "That's a name for a colored women" (101). He is already making rash assumptions of Robert based on something barely related to Roberts personality.

Although Robert is blind, the narrator can understand that Robert can see into his wife's emotion better than himself. This is seen when Robert arrives and the narrators wife greets him on the curb. While walking to the house, both are laughing and apparently already sharing a joyous moment. This sort of happiness is not seen in the wife prior to Roberts visit. The wife and the narrator clearly don't share a very deep relationship when the narrator feels compromised by his wife's best friend. The narrator even goes as far as criticizing Robert for having a beard. This is expressed when the narrator state, "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a beard!...Too much, I say" (101). Does Robert feel this need to belittle his beard because he knows that Robert has no way of seeing it?

The narrator begins to gain some respect for Robert at the conclusion of the meal By listening to Robert's various jobs and interesting tasks, the narrator starts to understand the depth of Robert's character. Initially, the narrator viewed Robert as a helpless handicapped blind man, but by the end of the story, the narrator grows truly connected to Robert and can see life with a fresher perspective. The narrator sees how Robert has had the experiences of a lifetime while at the same time faced the disadvantage of lacking eyesight. Robert seems to gain a great deal of satisfaction from his past full of exciting experiences specifically his work as a ham radio operator. While smoking marijuana on the living room couch, the narrator attempts and struggles to describe what a cathedral looks like to Robert. This is expressed when the narrator explains, "They reach way up...I'm not doing so god, am I?" (107). The narrator needs leaves his comfort zone, illustrating what a cathedral looks like by drawing it on paper and having Robert hold on to his hand. While drawing it, the narrator closes his eyes and begins to understand life through the eyes of Robert. This is the deepest connection between the two individual in the story and the point where the narrator lifts his veil of ignorance. He begins understanding that he has freed himself from a blinding barrier of ignorance.

(581)