Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” recounts a man’s experience with his wife’s blind friend, Robert. The speaker of the story details his feelings toward Robert and the interactions that they share during a night at his house. Carver’s “Cathedral” reflects the notions of unease and misunderstanding that often surround the topic of disability.
This is the speaker’s first experience with a person who is blind, and he expresses great discomfort at the idea of being around Robert as he states that “a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 209). The speaker’s discomfort with Robert’s blindness is reflective of society’s general discomfort with disability, and for the speaker, this discomfort is mostly due to a lack of experience and knowledge about disability. The speaker has formed expectations for how Robert should be and is surprised to find him with a beard and without a cane or dark glasses. Due to his lack of experience with people who are blind, Robert has formed a representation of what a blind person should be like based on how blindness is typically depicted on television or in readings. To find that Robert did not meet these stereotypes was startling.
After the speaker’s wife falls asleep on the couch Robert and the speaker are left to watch television together. The channel lands on a piece about cathedrals. After the speaker fails to describe how cathedrals look, Robert suggests that they draw one together. The speaker reluctantly agrees, and they begin working on a drawing of a cathedral on the back of a shopping bag. He describes how Robert’s “fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now” (228). In this moment, the two men find themselves connecting. The speaker closes his eyes and as they work together, and he gains a little more understanding of Robert. It becomes more of a partnership than the speaker teaching Robert about cathedrals; however, even through this new sense of understanding, the speaker continues to dwell on Robert’s disability. Previously, the speaker thought about how Robert’s relationship to his wife must have been and pities Robert’s wife. He thinks about how it must be difficult to marry a man who could not see her, assuming she would never be complimented or fully understood by her husband. This sense of pity is echoed in the end. The speaker keeps his eyes closed after completing the drawing of the cathedral and explains that he knew he was still in his house “But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (228). Though he appears to learn that Robert is more than his disability, he still has difficulty moving past the fact that he is blind and continues to focus on all of the things Robert cannot do.
Overall, Carver’s short story portays a man’s first experience with someone who is blind. “Cathedral” illustrates the discomfort that many able-bodied people feel when confronted with disability. This may be due to lack of experience, a fear that they could become disabled someway themselves, or wanting to appear respectful without knowing how. Once he is more able to move past his prejudices, the speaker and Robert are able to form a more genuine relationship.
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