Wayne Doerscher
"The Blind comes to Stay"
In Raymond Carver's short story, "Cathedral", I argue that the woman's husband is frustrated that a blind man is coming to stay at their house but in the end is taught a lesson from the very one that frustrated him. From the very beginning, the woman's husband shows his detest for Robert but over the course of the story he eases into comfort with the blind man. Throughout the story I feel bad for the husband because his wife seems to be down his throat on everything he does and asks, when really he is just trying to learn about the blind man and his disability.
The story begins with a description of the relations between the man, his wife and Robert. It is shown that Robert employed the man's wife, whose name is never stated, ten years previous by having her read reports and case studies to him since his blindness would not permit him to do it himself.
Up till now the women and Robert have not seen each other since, but they send tapes back and forth to each other constantly. The story also touches base briefly with the woman's past relations with her first husband. Their past marital problems seem to be a main base for the man's wife and Robert's extended contact. After this background history, the story then continues into the present with the blind man, Robert, on his way to stay for a night.
As the husband explains, Robert's wife had died recently and so he was visiting her family in Connecticut. As the husband and his wife live nearby, Robert arranged to visit, and is on his way. Even knowing those facts, the man's thoughts on Robert coming to stay were still...