At any point of life, people may question themselves about the meaning of their life and existence. Faith takes an important role in providing the answer to whether life has value, whether this faith is found in religion, family, work, or community. In both “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, faith can potentially be found by sympathizing with others. While in “Cathedral”, the narrator gains a newfound faith in himself through interaction with blind Robert, in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, the main character cannot find any meaning in the deaf old man’s life and therefore cannot find any hope in his own. In Carver’s story, the main character has no friends and a lack of communication skills, being isolated inside his house and relying on television to get information about the outside world. When he meets Robert, a blind man, his stereotypes about blind men at first keep him from relating to Robert and thus preventing him from finding significance in his life. By observing Robert’s life, which is opposite to his expectations, he is able to gain meaning in his own. In contrast, the main character in Hemingway’s story, the older waiter, is not given any emotional depth until he shows a sense of kindship and sympathy with a deaf old man who comes to his café. However, the younger waiter considers the old man worthless and his presence a nuisance, which causes the older waiter to feel the same about his life. Thus, it is clear that both stories suggest that the meaning of human existence regarding faith can be derived from interaction with others, but Hemingway is pessimistic about the possibility of connecting with others, whereas Carver is optimistic about the possibility of change through communication.
In “Cathedral”, the narrator’s isolation causes him to build stereotypes about others, preventing him from relating with them. Being limited in his own viewpoint and experiences, he doesn’t know how to read others’ emotions and how to communicate with others. When his wife talks about the poem that she wrote for her blind friend, Robert, he doesn’t feel anything: “I can remember I didn’t think much of the poem… I just don’t understand poetry” (Carver 69). Before meeting Robert, he has negative views of blind people based on movies and television and was not comfortable with his visit: “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed…A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 69). Knowing his lack of sympathy, his wife asks him to be discreet when Robert comes, since his wife has died, but he is still not able to understand Robert’s feelings, as this conversation between him and his wife shows: “‘… if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable.’ She wiped her hands with the dish towel. ‘I don’t have any blind friends,’ I said” (Carver 71). At first, when the narrator tries to relate to Robert, he either finds the man’s blindness “creepy” (Carver 73) or is unwilling to take his disability into account; he asks questions without considering Robert’s situation: “‘Which side of the train did you sit on, by the way?’” (Carver #). Even though he is not physically blind like Robert, it shows that he is spiritually blind (Frauley). His inability to sympathize with others prevents him from finding value in human existence.
However, Robert’s presence allows the narrator to break free from the limited images about blind men that the media have shown him, as he reflects, “This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man!” (Carver 73). Eventually, the narrator is able to admit that the two are equal, regardless of disability. Being isolated and depending on television, he may think he knows enough even without communicating with others, but Robert foils him brings him out of his comfort zone (Frauley): “I remembered having read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke … I thought I knew that much and that much only about blind people. But this blind man smoked his cigarette down to the nubbin and then lit another one” (Carver 74). Even if the narrator is the host and Robert is the guest, he feels uncomfortable with leading the conversation, “I didn’t know what else to say” (Carver 72), and rather Robert tries to communicate: “From time to time, he’d turn his blind face toward me, put his hand under his beard, ask me something” (Carver 74) Robert even calls the narrator “Bub” (73), as a familiar term suggesting a friendship. They develop their initial friendliness via alcohol, smoking, and casual conversation, but their deeper connection is built through the symbol of the cathedral. Not only is the cathedral a traditional building representing faith in god, but also is a personal symbol of faith in their shared achievement as they draw the cathedral together; as Robert says, “‘Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, bub?’” (Carver 80). By drawing the cathedral with closed eyes, the narrator gains a little faith, which provides him a meaning in his life. Ironically, he can see more deeply when he stops relying on his own limited sense of vision (Frauley).
In Hemingway’s story, like “Bub” at the beginning of “Cathedral”, the older waiter seems to have no faith in his life. Unlike in the previous story that shows that sympathy provides meaning in life through faith, the main character’s sympathy leads to hopelessness, since he finds himself relating with the seemingly forlorn old deaf man, who stays at his “clean, well-lighted” café until almost 3 am. Unlike younger who considers the old man useless and “lonely” (Hemingway 129), the older waiter understands him and feels a connection: “‘He stays up because he likes it’” (Hemingway 129). After the younger waiter makes the old man leave the café early, the old waiter goes to the bar that he considers neither “clean” nor “well-lighted” (Hemingway 131). He prays for nothing which shows that he lacks faith and any improvement in his life through reflection of the old deaf man: “Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada” (Hemingway 130-131). Unlike the cathedral which is both a public symbol of religious faith and a personal symbol of faith in humanity, the older waiter’s prayer suggests his lack of faith in both religion and the meaning of human existence.
In both stories, the main characters experience an emotional connection with other characters who have disabilities that may prevent them from enjoying life. However, one of them leads the main character in “Cathedral” to gain a meaningful life, while the other leads the main character in “” to experiences his own despair without faith.