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Blindness creates a world of obscurity only to be overcome with guidance from someone willing to become intimate with the blind. Equally true, the perceptions of blindness can only be overcome when the blind allow intimacy with the sighted. Raymond Carver, with his short story Cathedral, illustrates this point through the eyes of a man who will be spending an evening with a blind man, Robert, for the first time. Not only does this man not know Robert, but his being blind, bothered (Carver 98) him.
His, idea of blindness came from the movies, where, the blind move slowly and never laughed (Carver 98). These misconceptions of blindness form barriers between the blind and the sighted. Carver breaks down these barriers as he brings the vastly different lives of these two men together. Those of us with sight find it difficult to identify with the blind. This man, like most of us, can only try to imagine what life is like for Robert.
As a result of his inability to relate with Robert, he thinks his behaviors are odd, and is unable to understand the relationship he has with his wife. His wife worked for this blind man many years ago, reading him reports and case studies, and organizing his little office (Carver 98) in the county's social-service department. He refer? bers a story his wife told about the last day she worked for him.
The blind man asked her if he could touch her face, and she agreed. She told him that Robert had touched every part of her face with his fingers, her nose-even her neck! (Carver 98). His wife wrote poetry whenever something important happened in her life, and she tried (Carver 98) to write a poem about this unforgettable experience. He said he didnt think much of the poem, (although he didnt tell her that), reasoning it was because he didnt understand poetry. In reality though, the act of the blind man touching her face is what he didnt understand. To him this seemed a bizarre encounter.
Some people, like his wife and myself, are able to realize how meaningful this experience is. As a child I developed a close relationship with my blind grandmother, similar to that between his wife and Robert. My grandmother would often run her fingers over my face, which would make me feel awkward and uncomfortable at first. As I became an adult though, I began to realize the importance this act held for my grandmother, and eventually for myself. Touching, for the blind, becomes a vital aspect of relating with the world. To touch something is to see it with your fingers.
It was my grandmothers way of becoming familiar with me through her hands instead of her eyes. His wife had experienced this emotional closeness with Robert, while he could only try to understand it by hearing and reading about it. Without personally knowing anyone who is blind, the imagination takes over and preconceived ideas are formed. This man had created a picture in his mind of what Robert would look like, and how he would act. When Robert arrived at his house he learned that none of his assumptions were correct.
Robert didnt wear the typical dark glasses, or walk with a cane. Even without the cane Robert didnt move slowly like he thought he would. He had read somewhere that blind people didnt smoke, but Robert not only smoked cigarettes, they also enjoyed some laughs together when he introduced Robert to dope (Carver 104). As it turned out, Robert wasnt so humorless after all. He was also surprised to see that Robert wore a full beard and was dressed well, even looking, spiffy (101). When he turned the TV on, to his wifes irritation, they both learned that not only did Robert own two TVs, but he preferred to watch the color one.
When he realized that his assumptions about Robert were false, and that they actually shared some things in common, he began to feel more comfortable with the blind man, even being, glad for the company (Carver 105). Once the misconceptions of blindness are revealed by knowing someone personally, a closer relationship can develop. This man now knows Robert as more than the blind man, and he allows himself to become vulnerable with him. While this man and Robert are watching and listening to the TV, a program about cathedrals comes on.
The man was watching closely as the huge buildings and countrysides flashed across the screen. The man becomes aware that, There were times when the Englishman who was telling the thing would shut up, would simply let the camera move around over the cathedrals (Carver 105 - 106). The silence in the room became awkward for him because he realized that has long as the narrator wasnt speaking, Robert didnt know what was happening. Waiting as long as he could, he felt he had to say something.
He began to portray what was on the screen to Robert. Robert explained that he only knew what the narrator had said, but wanted him to describe what they looked like. Robert struggled trying to make comparisons, and used words like big and tall. He soon gave up though, realizing that he wasnt getting through to Robert. Robert had an idea and asked the man to bring a pen and some heavy paper. He brought the items and they sat side by side in front of the couch with the paper on the table.
As the man held the pen, Robert brought his hand over his and told him to draw. He began with a simple square building then put in windows with arches. I drew flying buttresses. I hung doors. I couldnt stop (Carver 108). They continued to draw even after the TV station went off the air, even after the mans fingers began to ache.
Robert told him to draw people, so he did. Close your eyes now (Carver 108), Robert said, and he did. They continued to draw, both of them in darkness now. When they were done Robert told him to take a look, but he left his eyes closed.
I thought Id keep them that way a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do (Carver 108), the man said to himself. When they finished Robert said, Well? Are you looking? (Carver 108). With his eyes still closed, the man replied, Its really something (Carver 108). The man had allowed himself to experience, even if just for a few minutes, what the blind man experienced every second of his life.
This, with the same man only a few hours ago he didnt want in his house. Overcoming prejudices, fears, and misconceptions is only possible when you allow yourself to get close to a person these feelings are directed towards. By becoming close with Robert, the man in this story experienced what was necessary to gain an understanding of what life is like for the blind. The man began to draw the cathedral to try and help Robert visualize what one looked like. What he didnt realize at the time was that Robert was helping him to visualize what blindness felt like.
Bibliography Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. The Story and Its Writer by, Ann Charters. Bedford Press. 1999.
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