Brianna Hupe
Mr. Scott
English 1302 - 024
25 February 2015
Blinded
In “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the unnamed narrator whom is also the husband undergoes an emotional change throughout the story. In the beginning he does not wish to venture out of his comfort zone, but at the end he is so caught off guard when he has been forced past his current state of mind after a lesson from the blind friend when he finds himself enlightened to the attitudes of the disabled. At the beginning of the story it is noticed right off the bat that narrator does not seem to be happy in his marriage but is just stuck in the role of being husband. We can tell that he is jealous of his wives friend from her past that is coming to visit, Robert, making it known that this is also not a healthy marriage. It is obvious soon on to the readers that the husband does not care about the fact that this visit is important to his wife. With the husband being arrogant, the only thing he thinks should matter is the fact that he is uncomfortable with it and that it should not happen. He is merely against the idea of the friend coming to visit and does not want to welcome him into their home. Being so because he simply just wants Robert to stay a part of his wives past and not to become a part of her present, showing that he is intimidated of their relationship. The wife says to her husband, “If you love me, you can do this for me. If you don't love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I'd make him feel comfortable.” (34). Although not a healthy or happy relationship between the two he wants to please her, so he shows her his love when welcoming the blind man into his home. By this we can tell that they may have a loving marriage but along with some definite issues. The narrator makes little effort to make Robert comfortable. At dinner no one spoke, just ate. And at the end of dinner the husbands says, “We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed.”. This makes it