Essay: Raymond Carver’s Cathedral

Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a short story depicting the reaction of the narrator to the visit of his wife’s friend, a blind man, to his home. In “Cathedral,” the narrator undergoes a transition from being nearsighted and judgmental to becoming enlightened and finally being able to truly see for the first time, with the help of the blind man who visits. In the beginning of the short story, the narrator is almost blind himself in terms of his outlook on life and others. He has many misconceptions about blind people in general, such as that “the blind moved slowly and never laughed.” He also makes many assumptions about the blind man before he even sets eyes on him, like stating “without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like.”  He pities the blind man for his lack of sight, and does not realize that the blind man possesses an insight into others that he lacks himself. The insight that the narrator lacks is evidenced in his disinterest in his wife, as he is more interested in himself and his own tribulations. This story gives the reader a small glimpse into the way that blind people were discriminated against many years ago. Race based and disability discriminations have similarities and differences, however, both have been occurring for decades.
Disability is mostly prevalent among older population (above the age of 65 years) in the USA (Dunlop, Song, Manheim, Daviglus and Chang 2209). Other than the old aged individuals, those who have attained disability after surgeries or are mentally challenged have also been noted as subjected to certain types of discriminations in the USA. They are often excluded from opportunities of employment at workplaces despite having the competencies. Similarly, even if they work better than their peers, opportunities of equal payment can be restricted to the disabled people. Harasser may pass hurting comments, offending the disabled individuals and thereby leading them towards high risks of severe depression (EEOC, “Disability discrimination”).
From the beginning of “Cathedral,” the narrator has a negative perspective about blind people in general. Because of his perspective the narrator is apprehensive when he learns that a blind man will be visiting his home. The narrator displays his discontent by stating that
“I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were lead by seeing eyes dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to (Carver).”
The narrator has a narrow-minded and ignorant view of anyone that is blind and not entirely open to having someone around that he wasn’t used to. The audience is now provided an idea about the life of the narrator, how he has only encountered blind people through movies and that they have all never laughed, possibly depicting how the narrator has never done much out of his ordinary routine. Because of his attitude and reaction, the narrator proves to be blind mentally, while judging someone that is blind physically. His blindness leads him to believe that physically blind people can’t enjoy the fruits of life, which he soon finds out is incorrect.
The narrator’s perception of Robert is influenced first with the interaction the narrator has with Robert. After the wife leaves the two men alone after dinner, the narrator states that “I didn’t want to be left alone with a blind man (Carver).” The narrator’s attitude towards Robert suggest that because the two don’t have much in common on the surface, that their interaction with each other will be awkward or boring in some way. The author does a good job at showing the ignorance of prejudice people as a whole. They are often the ones viewing the world blindly.Raymond Carver discusses an issue that is hard to talk about: discrimination.
People of color  in the United States  primarily comprises the African Americans, leading the issue to be an economic and social issue (Pager and Shepherd 2-4). The areas, wherein people of color have to experience discriminatory practices include non-availability of proper education and absence of employment opportunities (Pew Research Center, “3. Discrimination and racial inequality”). These facts imply that low opportunities in the sphere of education and employment are related to the occurrences of racial and disability discrimination in a similar pattern. However, contradictory arguments imply that the prevalence of discrimination is more extreme for people of color, as reflected from the presence of unjust practices conducted by the police.
Ethnicity and racial discrimination have been a major challenge faced by the citizens of the United States of America over decades Steinfield, M. (1973). The issue is observed to range widely from social privileges, perhaps, on matters concerning education, land acquisition and other opportunities to various human rights; for example, right to vote, Citizenship, criminal procedural rights, immigration and many other discriminations seeking adequate attention for the welfare of American people. Immigrants from Europe who happen to be non-protestants encounter various sufferings inclusive of xenophobic exclusion that are due to ethical backgrounds to racism discrimination faced by immigrants from the Middle East perhaps the Middle East Americans; for instance the Arabs and the Jews groups that are facing continuous discrimination from the United States of America Gruber, J. W. (January 01, 1980).
However, some of the impacts that come along with the discrimination have widely traversed to health issues, Brown, D. A. (January 01, 2004); where in America there is a Health and Ethnicity Series that raise awareness on psychology impacts of racial discrimination which is related to stress. But if we take a keen study on discrimination, for instance, the African-Americans on their daily life; they do not realize any stressors that affect their psychological health. Therefore, understanding the existence of racism in America is a bit complicated; hence, it deserves a thorough analysis that points and justifies allegations of racial discrimination. We are not certain in the existence of Ethnic and racism discrimination even though it is believed to be all over in the streets of United States, Steinfield, M. (1973).
Consequently, about a conducted study on Asians, Gruber, J. W. (January 01, 1980), it was noted that Asian-Americans are high in experience competence, they are anti-social. Therefore, this received greater admiration and envy, and this was negatively taken thus considered posing a threat to the white. However, the nature of Asians lifestyle has led to racism and discriminations; more generally, it might be the reasons behind their unfitness to access management employment and top level leadership in the leading companies of America. Racism in leadership has its way as it was depicted in the study; it is believed that human beings are naturally arrogant and prideful.  People try to raise their status above others to be considered more sophisticated, and it was claimed that the state of prideful and ignorance might be the reasons behind racism and discrimination, Steinfield, M. (1973). Hence, no one could justify the existence of racism and discrimination in the United States.
In conclusion, discrimination is an issue that is difficult to discuss, but Raymond Carver was able to explore the issue through literature. People have been discriminated against for centuries. In the story, it can not be emphasized enough how important it is that it was a blind man that visited because, as aforementioned, the narrator is saved from blindness from the blind man himself. If society looked deeper, then they’d realize that like the blind man and the narrator, that it is important to not look at the world blindly.