Examine character development in ”Cathedral” by Raymond Carver

The narrator in Carver’s “Cathedral” changes his point of viewat the end of the story. In the story, the man is seen with his wife, but has some arguments between each other. The following paragraphs will include the original thinking of the narrator, what is the key point for him to change, and how does he change at the end of the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator has his own ideas about things and will not attempt to see his wife’s points of view. He felt interested in nothing, even though his wife let him see her romantic poem, he pretend that he understood it. Also, William has problems on trusting people, only reply some simple questions from the blind man as he doesn’t even want to answer:” Finally, when I thought he was beginning to run down, I got up and turn on the television.”(37) The most of the important key point for changing is to draw a Cathedral for the blind man. At the moment when he was drawing a Cathedral, was a new territory for him. Although the narrator can physically see a Cathedral on television, he has no idea of describing how it looks like. As the blind man told him to open his eyes after drawing, he did not.

The narrator figured out that he was mentally blind:” My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.”(42.) At the end of the story, the narrator realized that he should have started to change his concept and fix his marriage. If a Cathedral is a way for people to connect with God, it leads the narrator to the world he never experienced before:“It’s really something,” (42) said the narrator. Moreover, this connect helps him to rebuild relationships with people. To conclude, the original concept of the narrator makes readers notexpect for his changing. He is a person who lose connection between other people, included his wife. Also, he is an isolated man without concern of others. However, drawing a Cathedral makes him change his point of view, and realized how blind he is. As he felt something different on his drawing, he begins to change himself.

Work cited:
(Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.”The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11thed. New York: Norton, 2013. 33-42. )