Carver Response

For the response, I will discuss my thoughts on the short story Cathedral by Robert Carver. The story follows the life of the Narrator, who is never named, and his wife, who is also never named. It tells of the narrator's wife and her experiences with a blind man, Robert whom she met in Seattle. After Robert's wife dies of cancer, Robert goes to visit the Narrator and his wife. The Narrator is pretty uneasy about the visitor, but after meeting him and learning of his gentle and humble manner, the Narrator is content with their visitor. Towards the end of the story, Robert asks the Narrator to draw a cathedral after being unable to describe a cathedral in words. Overall, the Narrator and his wife are very humbled by their visitor and their lives are put in perspective.

Overall, i really enjoyed this short story. I gained an emotional connection to Robert as I read into his life and the experiences he has been through. It was very warming to think of the adversity he had overcome along with the life-long friendship he had built with the Narrator's wife. His experiences and determination through adversity helped me to reference times in my life where I was put in a bad situation and had to look at the bright side. This is by far my favorite piece of writing that we have read in this class. I really liked Carver's writing style and now want to look into other things he has wrote. This story was very touching and I liked the way the titles wrapped into the story towards the end and built a better understanding of how sometimes, it is better to feel something rather than physically see it. Robert had built an understanding of his environment while never actually seeing it in person. To me, this was amazing and I loved the story because of it.