Lindsay Beardall

ENGL 2600-003

“The blind leading the blind”: An exploration in first person narrative

Writing from the perspective of a participating character can be challenging, yet

extremely rewarding, if done well. If this method is used wisely, to further enhance the

narrator, as well as the other characters, it can be the most effective literary device in the

story. In “Cathedral”, Carver effectively uses the narrator’s limited first person,

extremely biased point of view to flesh out the three main characters of the story; the

narrator, the narrator’s wife, and the blind man.

The narrator’s attitude comes across as brash, sarcastic, close-minded, arrogant,

and very biased, through short, clipped, cursory sentences. However, he is a very insecure

fella. His insecurity and loneliness is evidenced in many, many ways throughout the

entire story. A prime example of this is when he is drawing the cathedral with the blind

man. He uses phrases like “I’m not doing so good, am I?”, “the best I can do for you”,

“no good at it” (108). The blind man blazes into the narrator’s house, and reminds the

narrator of everything he could be but isn’t, thanks to his insecurity. This is the reason the

narrator is so uncomfortable with the blind man’s disability. “I don’t have any blind

friends,” I said. “You don’t have any friends,” she said” (102). The narrator resents the

blind man for his easy going, open-minded manner, evidenced in the injection of

sarcastic phrases like “pathetic” (102), “spiffy”, “creepy” (103), “very disconcerting”

(106), and “who’d want to go to such a wedding in the first place?” (102). Towards the

end of the story, the narrator has moved past his resentment toward the blind man, into a
kind of awe. He “watched with admiration” (104) as the blind man navigated his plate.

The fact that someone with a disability could get so much out of life made the narrator

reflect upon his own life, finding it lacking. He was humbled, and became like a meek

student, eager to learn. He readies himself, “moved some things, smoothed the wrinkles

from the bag, spread it out on the coffee table” (108) and takes direction from the blind

man. “I couldn’t stop”, “I kept at it. I’m no artist. But I kept drawing just the same.”

(109). Then the biggest changes in the narrator come, seen in his cessation of referencing

‘the blind man’, as soon as the narrator’s eyes are closed. They are on equal ground, and

the narrator is trying to understand the blind man’s struggles, “I thought I’d keep them

that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.” (109) Eventually

moment of epiphany comes, and the narrator achieves freedom and understanding from

this experience, “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside

anything.” “It’s really something” (109). The narrator’s outlook on life has changed

completely, and the evidence is hard-wired into the text, obvious within the shifts in

narrative attitude.

The narrator’s wife is the bridge between the narrator and the blind man. She has

a close relationship with the blind man, the tapes between them being her “chief means of

recreation” (101). Through dialogue and how the narrator categorizes and describes her

reactions, we learn that she is sensitive, generous, makes poor decisions when it comes to

marriage, and has had a difficult past (suicide attempt, divorce). We also learn that the

narrator is jealous of the relationship between the blind man and the narrator’s wife.

Descriptors towards the blind man say “she was still wearing a smile. Just amazing.”
(102) and she was “beaming” (103), a sentiment not often seen by the narrator, since her

attitude towards him is shown in phrases like “I had the feeling she didn’t like what she

saw” (103), “looked at me with irritation. She was heading toward a boil”, “savage look”

(105). Their marriage is not ideal “my wife and I hardly ever went to bed at the same

time” (106), and they don’t communicate well. The blind man fulfilled her need for

interaction, “she wanted to talk. They talked.” (101), while the narrator just didn’t quite

understand her; “she was always trying to write a poem” (100), “I can remember I didn’t

think much of the poem” (101), and she is the least explored of the three characters

because of the narrator’s lack of understanding. Yet, the descriptions the narrator gives of

her still produce a full, relatable character.

Finally, we come to the hero of the story, the blind man. Through the narrator’s

descriptions, we learn that the blind man has a great deal of presence. “His big laugh”

(106), “his loud voice” (104), and “boomed” (103) indicate the effect he has on the

narrator. The narrator didn’t know what to expect from the blind man, he only know

blind as in the movies, where they “moved slowly and never laughed” and were “led by

seeing-eye dogs” (100). The narrator claims that “his being blind bothered me”, and the

blind man’s visit was “not something I looked forward to” (100). When the blind man

arrives, it is evident that the narrator is so trepidatious of the blind man’s visit because of

the close-knit relationship of the blind man and the narrator’s wife. The narrator never

uses the blind man’s name, although we know it to be Robert through dialogue from the

narrator’s wife. But the picture that the blind man’s actions and dialogue paints is that of

an open-minded, easygoing, genuine individual. He never claims to be anything other

than what he is, doesn’t let his disability impede his quality of life, and is generally just a

happy person. The narrator sees this, and though the attitude toward the blind man is

bitter and resentful at the beginning “this stranger, this blind man I didn’t even know!”

(101), “a beard on a blind man! Too much, I say” (102), it begins to shift to

uncomfortable “I didn’t want to be left alone with a blind man” (105), and finally making

way to incredulous and humble “I did it. I closed them just like he said”. (109) When the

narrator gets to this final state of meekness, the blind man nurtures that fact, and takes the

narrator under his wing, always giving him encouragement, “Draw. You’ll see.” “swell”

“terrific” “you’re doing fine” “That’s right. That’s good.” (109) and trying to make the

narrator understand and open his mind “You didn’t think you could. But you can, can’t

you?” “I think that’s it. I think you got it.” (109) The blind man is very secure and

nurturing, and those traits are very evident in the text, thanks to the narrator’s

observations.

All three characters in this story are completely filled out by the narrator’s

perspective of them. The reader’s ability to recognize the narrator’s bias is important, but

if this is realized early on (which is the intention, since the sarcastic markers give it

away), the reader can see and understand the deep characters involved in this story. The

narrative attitude gives indicators of character at every turn, and this first person method

goes over extremely well as a literary device in “Cathedral”.

Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral". Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and

writing. Pearson Longman: 2007.