Cathedral by Raymond Carver
These stories both show how assumptions and ignorance get the better of us as we judge strangers for their characteristic differences. In Hemingway's story, the gap between the customer and the waiter is caused by a handicap of being deaf and an age difference. In Cathedral, another handicap is introduced, as a blind man seems to see more about the fine parts of life than a normal man, eyesight in tact.
The approach taken toward the old man in a well-lighted cafe was very immature. The first words uttered about him were "Last week he tried to commit suicide." This reminded me of all the girls chatting about the neighborhood gossip of the past week. It had no concern in the tone, but merely a negative connotation and suggestion that he was less of a person for the attempt on his life. When asked "why?" the waiter decides that the old man was in despair for "nothing." And in explaining "nothing," we see a common opinion of our society emerge.
If you have plenty of money, you will be fine.
Having said the old man was in despair, the young waiter ignores that notion and writes the man off as an old drunkard who wants to waste time and keep him from shutting down the cafe and going home early. As the older waiter defends the old man, the younger waiter reminds him that "there are bodegas open all night long." Once again, the young waiter has written the man and others like him off as lowly individuals that must settle for the dim and dirty corners of the city.
Ignorance blocks the young waiter's ability to see that the older waiter and the old man are of a different kind than himself. "It is not only a question of youth and confidence although those things are very beautiful." The idea that youth, confidence, and a job make the man is very wide spread, but very ignorant as well. Even in a fallen state, in a handicapped state, the old man managed to show more depth to his soul than someone who seemed pleased with the way his life was going.
Carver's ignorant character is a man who spends his time watching television and smoking marijuana in his free time. He is slightly crass and very close minded to new things and new people. With the help of a blind man, we see some insecurities surface from a man who does not let his emotions show.
His wife took a job helping a blind man organize his things and reading to him. A simple job became a connection for the two, for the intimacy of sharing ideas and stories together brought them closer. As a man who was oblivious to his wife's activities and most everything else in his surroundings, it was a very important moment when the husband started to notice this intimacy grow between his wife, and a man he didn't know.
When that man entered his home, an attitude surfaced as he became more and more uncomfortable. Being close-minded, and being put into a situation to meet a man that has been seeing your wife proved very difficult for the man. Upon seeing his blindness, the feelings intensified. After some time, the feelings calmed and the man became nonchalant about the situation, just as he had done with everything else in his life. To light up a joint in front of new company is an unexpected twist, to say the least.
Like a numbing agent, the marijuana was used as an ice breaker for the husband, as the blind man sampled the cannabis. But the husband was already so numb, for when his wife walked around in an open robe, he did nothing to acknowledge her. He was dead to intimacy. He could not understand the relationship between his wife and this man. He preferred tv to human interaction. He focused more on marijuana than his wife's exposed leg before him.
And after calmed and relaxed, the husband lets himself open enough to learn something from the blind man. He let himself open up to a person, he let himself find some intimacy. Interaction and involvement in life, sharing experiences with people, had been put into a higher priority level now. Helping a blind man see a cathedral had, in turn, helped him see the importance of opening is mind and letting others in for some personal growth.
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