In the short story “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, the narrator draws a cathedral with his blind guest and transforms from a narrow-minded, materialistic, and superficial individual to an individual who acknowledges the spiritual aspects of life and the lives of those around him. Before the egoist narrator meets the blind man, Bub is so closed-minded, jealous, and materialistic that he does not want to help someone in need and he does not empathize with the hardships others endure. However, after Bub communicates with Robert and engineers an emotional connection, he is no longer limited by his former characteristics.
Through this emotional link, Robert assists Bub in opening his mind to the spiritual world and feeling empathy for others. Thus, Carver is suggesting that emotional connections can change one’s perspective of their surroundings and it is a means to feel spiritually aware. The reader learns that the narrator, Bub, is initially materialistic, emotionally disconnected, and narrow-minded. Bub’s wife says that “[Bub does not] have any friends… Period” (Carver 95) showing that Bub is disconnected from the rest of society. Bub focuses on the physical aspects of the world and just what is on the outside.
Bub is materialistic in the way that he smokes dope every night, drinks alcohol to his heart’s content, and eats food until he cannot eat any more. This leads the reader to infer that Bub believes that he will find some sort of emotional fulfillment for his empty personality by focusing on material things. While Robert is still present, Bub’s wife’s robe fell open, exposing her upper thigh, and Bub originally fixes the robe so his wife is appropriately covered. He then realizes that Robert is blind and “[flips] the robe open again” (Carver 100) so he can enjoy his wife’s appearance ithout the slightest wonder of her comfort and feelings.
This leads to the reader noticing Bub’s absence of empathy. These examples not only show that the narrator lives in a world where material objects are most important and where material experiences will theoretically make one happier, but the examples also show Bub’s lack of empathy and compassion. Before he eats dinner, Bub disrespectfully leads a prayer for which he prays for “the phone [not to] ring and the food [not to] get cold” (Carver 98).
This quote shows that the narrator is not only materialistic, but he is also very narrow-minded, in the sense that he has no ability to believe in something greater than himself. Prior to dinner, the narrator lets his closed-minded personality take the lead and he believes in untrue discriminations about blind people. Such discriminations are that dark glasses are “a must for the blind” (Carver 97) and that the stereotypical blind man is one who is antisocial, quiet, and disconnected.
However, when Bub meets Robert, the narrator finds that Robert is the opposite of all of Bub’s initial thoughts. When the narrator eats dinner with Robert, he is astonished to see the blind man “seating] like there [is] no tomorrow” (Carver 98) along with everyone else who is eating dinner. He ends up drinking and smoking along with Bub as well. Robert again defies all of Bub’s ideas of what a blind man’s personality should be and turns out to be immensely connected throughout all aspects of his life.
Robert is a ham operator in his free time and he speaks of “conversations [he had] had with fellow operators in Guam, in the Philippines, in Alaska, and even in Tahiti” (Carver 98). This quote shows the reader and Bub that Robert is linked to people around the world and he is not in any way socially awkward, despite the narrator’s earlier notions. This quote also means that he values interactions with people and the experiences that he encounters. Also, because of his blindness, Robert has to be open-minded.
When the narrator turns on the TV, Robert tells tells Bub that “[he is] always learning something. Learning never ends. It [will not] hurt [him] to learn something tonight” (Carver 100). This quote shows that Robert tries to understand as much of the world as he can in order to gain a similar experience to those who are not impaired. Because Robert is blind, he has to live his life slightly differently than others and in turn, he has different focuses and different views on what is most important.
After Bub and Robert meet each other and get to know each other, they begin to feel more comfortable in each other’s presence and Bub begins to change. While watching TV, Robert asks Bub to help elaborate and explain every detail of a cathedral to him, because Robert has no clear interpretations of a cathedral. Bub elaborates on the “little statues carved to look like monsters” (Carver 101) and on the “paintings on the walls of this one church” (Carver 101) along with the fact that “they’re really big.
They’re massive” (Carver 102), once again showing Bub’s materialistic personality and his focus on physical attributes. Bub tells Robert that “the truth is, cathedrals [do not] mean anything to [him]” (Carver 102) and that he does not have any more to say about cathedrals because of his lack of faith and his lack of a personal attachment to a cathedral. As a result, Robert wants to draw a cathedral with Bub, hoping that he can show Bub how to have an emotional relationship and show empathy, all the while making Bub think that he is helping Robert to see when it is actually the other way around.
Prior to drawing, Robert “closes his hand over [Bub’s] hand” (Carver 102) creating a connection between the two men and signifying their newfound friendship. This opens the door even wider so the narrator can have major changes. As they draw, Bub is gradually becoming less disconnected and more open to the rest of the world. While Robert tells Bub that “you didn’t think you could [draw the cathedrals” (Carver 103), in reality, he is not talking about drawing a cathedral. He is telling the reader that Bub does not think that he can open up to the world, specifically the spiritual world.
But this will all change because Bub is transitioning from being materialistic and intolerant to becoming more welcoming in all aspects of life and less focused on the physical. When drawing the cathedral, Robert tells Bub to “put some people in there. What’s a cathedral without people” (Carver 103). Robert is trying to force Bub to look from a different perspective, the inside. Although it may seem like it is just a detail for the drawing, the people that Robert asks Bub to draw represent happiness and they are quite literally, people.
The cathedral that they are drawing is not only a building now, but it is a symbol for where they can find comfort and happiness. While Bub is focusing on the empty structure and the outside of the cathedral, it is also a metaphor for the emptiness of Bub’s life until he opens his mind to other experiences, specifically spiritual experiences. After the narrator finishes drawing the cathedral, he exhibits an extreme change in his perspective. The narrator notices that he “[does not] feel like [he] is inside anything” (Carver 103) which demonstrates the destruction of his previous limitations.
Bub also says that he thinks that leaving his eyes closed is “something that [he] ought to do” (Carver 103) leading the reader to believe that he is finally outside of himself and he is no longer focused on his life. He is now trying to show empathy to Robert and to others. The narrator puts his new feelings as being “really something” (Carver 103) because “it [is] like nothing else in [his] life up to now” (Carver 103) showing that Bub is having a new encounter with emotions that he has never felt before that moment.
His new emotions and experiences are filling his life, unlike the material things in the past. When the narrator broadens his comfort zone, he is experimenting with the spiritual world and challenging his previous notions which leads to him becoming more content with himself and his connections with the individuals around him. Throughout the story, Carver is proposing that emotional ties can permit individuals to have profound convictions and spiritual beliefs and in turn, can lead one to become more empathetic.
When the narrator draws the cathedral with Robert, he acknowledges things greater than himself and he opens himself up to the spiritual world. Bub changes from being materialistic, superficial, and closed-minded to being open-minded, spiritual, and emotionally connected to his life. In turn, he will have closer relationships with the people around him, specifically his wife, and he will also find more happiness because he will be focusing on his relationships with others and with himself.