March 1

Porscha March
Professor Lagos
Experiences in Literature
5 May 2014
Understanding the style of Minimalism in Cathedral
When thinking of literature, readers may get the idea that most authors, writers, and
poets, use a very intricate style to express themselves. The breakdown of the text can lead to
insightful discoveries in what the author is trying to say. Authors like Raymond Carver use a
very distinct style of writing to get through to their readers known as minimalism. Minimalism
can be defined as extreme sparseness and simplicity; simplicity in style in literature by using
very few simple elements to maximize the effect. Some authors like for their readers to take on
their own perception in order to come their own conclusion about the work. Carver uses this very
simple approach known as minimalism in the short story Cathedral to deliver an overall
powerful revelation of his characters internal crisis.
Carvers works are usually centered on very typical and ordinary everyday problems of
life (Just 304). His simplistic writings allow for his readers to relate and want to dig deeper into
their own lives only if they are able to read between the fine lines presented in his writings.
Carvers short story Cathedral may seem meaningless by the end, but actually have deeper
connotations that are structured throughout the story. Taking a look into minimalism and the
structure of it helps readers understand Carvers style of writing. In the beginning of Cathedral,
the narrator seems to feel uneasy about the fact that a blind man, whom is the friend of his wife,
is coming to stay with them. Right in the beginning he says, I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit.
He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me (Carver). In minimalism the less that is
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said, the better and the more straightforward it will be (Clark 109). This style of writing thrives
on simplicity, but yet the simpler it is, the deeper the meanings will be. From the narrators
opinion, it seems as though he is being very close minded in reference to a blind man staying at
his home, but there must be a reason for this. The blind man, whose name is Robert had a deep
friendship with the narrators wife, something that the narrator and his wife lacked (Clark 108).
We see evidence that Robert had a good friendship with the wife: She hadn't seen him since she
worked for him one summer in Seattle ten years ago. But she and the blind man had kept in
touch. They made tapes and mailed them back and forth (Carver). The reason for this narrators
uneasiness is never clarified in the story, and is more so hidden behind a more subtle approach;
however, it is apparent that he felt this way because of his own insecurities and jealousy (Clark
108).
Another factor to consider in minimalistic writings is that these stories are usually told in
first person, coming from an I point of view. Carvers works seem to focus on the self, since
he himself had his own issues that helped him write his stories. Coming to an understanding of
the characters individual problems is the revelation in most of his works. The most important
factor about this story is that the narrator is telling his story (Clark 108), which will allow the
readers to see the character at a more in depth level. Although Carver rarely clarifies the
motivations behind his techniques, he reveals the ideal sentence he is looking for in his writings
by remarking that one can find words that can sound so precise that they even sound flat, but
they can still carry, if used right, all the notes (Just 312).
It is important for the readers to pay attention to what is not being said versus what is
being said. Minimalism writings are expected to use understatements and epiphanies to depict
what the author is trying to reveal (Just 306). It is vital to read between the lines in Cathedral:
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what is the symbolic meaning of the blind man Robert and the narrators unsettling feeling about
him? A blind person cannot see, and the narrator did not like that about him, but what is really
being said here is that the narrator is not being open minded and in return is not able to see some
problematic aspects of himself (Clark 109). This problematic aspect is that he does not have a
deep relationship with his wife like Robert does. In this case, the narrator uses projection of
dislike towards Robert because internally he dislikes the disconnection between himself and his
wife. Most of what Carvers characters yearn for goes beyond knowledge; his characters want to
make a connection with themselves (Clark 113). Carver does not want his characters to gain on
an intellectual level but more so to develop emotionally.
Carvers goal is for his characters to find their deep self and learn about themselves
throughout the process. Towards the end of the story, Robert persuades the narrator to describe
to him what a cathedral is. The narrator tries his best to describe a cathedral: "They reach way
up. Up and up. Toward the sky. They're so big, some of them, they have to have these supports.
To help hold them up, so to speak. (Carver). Now it becomes apparent that there is a connection
between the cathedral, Robert, and the narrator. Going to back to the idea that the narrator is
close minded, the cathedral supports these claims. The narrator in this story is experiencing
limited sensory (unable to use his eyes, parallel to Robert) which leads him to confined
parameters (Clark 112). The cathedral represents the human mind, saying how big a cathedral is,
is parallel to our mind and how our minds our huge and have great power. Another symbolic
message of the cathedral is stated in this quote: Sometimes the cathedrals have devils and such
carved into the front. Sometimes lords and ladies. (Carver). Saying that cathedrals can either
have lords and ladies or devils on the front are also a representation of the notion that our mind
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can either be our worst enemy or our best friend depending on how we choose to use it. In this
case, the narrators mind was ultimately his worst enemy. His inner conflicts caused his
mind to be affected, which was the cause of his closed mind.
This style of writing has many subtle components that allow it to manifest into something
far deeper than one sees and hears on the surface. Carver does not use transition words between
sentences but is still able to have a continuous rhythm (Just 305). The reasoning for this type of
styling is to allow the audience to make their own conclusion shown here: I did it. I closed them
just like he said. "Are they closed?" he said. "Don't fudge. "They're closed," I said. "Keep them
that way," he said. He said, "Don't stop now. Draw"(Carver). Carver may not want to add any
extra wording because he would subconsciously give his readers a part of his own perception,
something that minimalist tend to stay away from.
At the very end, Robert asked the narrator to draw a cathedral while his hand lies on top
following the same traces of the narrators. At the end of the story the narrator states: So we
kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing
else in my life up to now (Carver). Carver uses this very simple tactic of writing as an
emotional buffer (Clark 114). Carver does not go too in depth about the narrators emotions. At
this point the narrator has undergone an emotional transformation without his awareness. Clark
claims that Carver hides the narrators emotion by making him sound clear cut and precise
(Clark 108). Little does the narrator and or readers know is that, the narrator has been making an
emotional transformation this whole time. Minimalism can include epiphanies; it emphasizes the
importance of what the characters experience yet the narrator will fail to mention these
occurrences throughout the story and refrain from going into full detail about it (Clark 110).
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Notice that in the above quote the narrator fails to explain what he means by It was nothing else
in my life up to now (Carver). This statement leaves it open to the reader to figure out what
Carver meant by this.
The last lines of the short story happen to give way to the revelation that Carver was
trying to express throughout the story. At this point, Robert had asked the narrator to draw a
cathedral with his eyes closed but now Robert wants him to take a look at what he drew:
Then he said, "I think that's it. I think you got it," he said. "Take a look. What do you think?
"But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was
something I ought to do. "Well?" he said. "Are you looking?" My eyes were still closed. I was in
my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. "It's really something," I said
(Carver).
Carver chooses to keep the narrator emotionally close to his actions but still distant to
what he is really doing (Clark 108). At this point the narrator has undergone an emotional
transformation without his awareness. This seems to be the main objective in minimalism, the
main character will not comprehend their experience because it will give way to a more upscale
moral and philosophical lesson that is only supposed to be determined by the reader themselves
(Clark 110). Meaning that the narrator will not go into detail about their own transformation
because they have not noticed it, but the readers on the other hand, will notice this
transformation. Characters in minimalistic stories are unable to understand their own significance
of an event in the end (Clark 114). The narrator recalls that when his eyes were closed he did not
feel like he was inside anything although he was actually inside his house; the narrator went from
being close minded to open minded. He sensed that He did not feel like he was inside
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anything, opposed to before the emotional transformation when he was close minded and
unaware. Carvers stories bring forth truth in which his characters are able to break free only if
they are able to recognize their own issues (Messer 45). The narrator never stated that he went
through an emotional transformation nor did he mention his internal conflict, but it is up to the
readers to make that call. Just like any other element in the story, the narrator never makes any
clear statements referring to his emotions and actions.
Minimalism carries all the right information needed to convey a message but the reader
has to use it to their advantage. . Minimalism is a very simple in a sense and the overall
underlying question and message of the story is easy to miss by readers, it is extremely crucial to
keep an open mind while reading minimalistic works. In his article, Daniel Just asks: And last
but not least, what can the ungratified wish fulfilments produced by these texts tell us about the
aesthetic codes valorized by our culture? (Just 306). My answer to this question is that I believe
that sometimes people expect too much. They expect the answers in life to arrive in a pretty little
box but it does not work that way. In minimalism writings, the readers must maintain an open
mind and dig deep into the text to get that sense of fulfilment from the story itself. The
conclusion and message of the story will not be put into a pretty little box at the end, the
readers must find it
themselves and that is the main objective in minimalism.



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Works Cited
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. < http.
http://www.nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/6/carver/cathedral.htm >
Clark, Robert C. "Keeping The Reader In The House: American Minimalism, Literary
Impressionism, And Raymond Carver's "Cathedral.." Journal Of Modern Literature 36.1 (2012):
104-118. Literary Reference Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Just, Daniel. "Is Less More? A Reinvention Of Realism In Raymond Carver's Minimalist
Short Story." Critique 49.3 (2008): 303-317. Literary Reference Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Messer, H. Collin. "Fleeing The Wasteland Of Alcoholism: Alienation, Recovery, And
Hope In Raymond Carver's Cathedral." Studies In Short Fiction 37.1 (2012): 43-58. Literary
Reference Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
"Minimalism." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 2 May 2014.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimalism>.