Narrator And The Reader example essay topic

As with many short stories, Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" only has a few pages to develop his main character and create a scenario he or she must learn from or achieve something from or change because of. In such a short amount of space, word choice is integral in constructing a solid impression of the characters and their personalities in the reader's mind. Carver's simple use of language and sentence structure combined with his choice for point of view creates an intriguing tone and believable character interaction. This story, written as the thoughts of the narrator, is about an old blind friend of his wife's coming to visit for the first time. The story focuses on the narrator's cynicism toward the blind man and the way his wife seems to look up to him.

Through out the visit there is halting interaction between the blind man and the narrator, however in the end the narrator experiences something he never could have imagined. Through the eyes of a blind man, he gains a better understanding of who he could be. The most striking aspect of Carver's "Cathedral" is the fact that the story is written from the point of view of a man not initially involved in the set up of the story at all. The narrator relays to the reader stories he has learned from his wife about her past before relaying what is happening in the present. He tells her history as if he were speaking to himself in an interior monologue. Her story is periodically interrupted with his own thoughts of what happened and he omits items that seem to bother him.

"I'm saying that at the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said goodbye to him married her childhood etc., who was now a commissioned officer... ". (218). Every time this officer that is his wife's first husband comes up in the story, the narrator moves on to other subjects quickly. This reveals a jealousy in him that is not plainly written in the story.

It allows the reader to learn about the narrator as he sets up the story. Because of this set up, the reader is able to expect and easily see the narrator's jealousy as he is later introduced to the blind man. He also omits names. The reader never learns the names of the narrator or his wife, though she is frequently involved in the story. This allows the reader to focus on essential characteristics of the character. The wife is merely the wife.

The blind man is blind. Choice of point of view can change the tone and entire meaning gained from a story. The tone of this story would have been much different if it were written from the wife's point of view. She would not have been seen as the static nagging wife stereotype, the husband himself would have probably be viewed as un supportive and a slacker, and the reader would have gained a better understanding of who this blind man was. However, for the sake of the story, the importance of the blind man is that he is blind.

This is what is important to the narrator and this is what the reader has no choice but to find important. With such an opinionated narrator, the reader is constantly drawn to the small things that he finds significant. There is much detail in describing the television shows he is watching, particularly the one about European cathedrals for which the story is entitled. "We didn't say anything for a time. He was leaning forward with his head turned at me, his right ear aimed in the direction of the set. Very disconcerting" (225).

This detail puts the reader in his place. One can feel the discomfort of sitting alone with a stranger with nothing to say and watching television, an experience he cannot even share. The type of diction and the way an author chooses to structure his sentences help strongly to develop a narrator who is also a character in a story. Carver's short simple sentences are filled with colloquialisms and slang terms suggesting the narrator is an average man voicing his thoughts. The sentences are arranged as if the narrator is saying what comes to mind as it comes to mind. Sentences are written in a simple but descriptive manner.

"The blind man had another taste of his drink. He lifted his beard, sniffed it, and let it fall. He leaned forward on the sofa" (223). The blind man's mundane actions that seem to catch the narrator's attention are described in detail as if he is awed by what the blind man is able to do. Also notable is the repetition the narrator uses. "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" (222). The narrator puts emphasis on the unimportant to bring attention to the fact that the blind man is eating just like anyone else. Carver's use of an average husband as narrator, crafts a series of accounts that are believable and become more and more intriguing as the story unfolds. Use of everyday language and simple sentences help create a flowing dialogue among the characters in the story and between the narrator and the reader.

Carver's writing is a window into the mind of his seemingly static narrator and in the end surprises readers with the narrator's deep revelation and understanding in the blind man. Sch akel, Peter, Jack Ride. Approaching Literature in the 21st Century. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2005.