Blindness in Raymond Carver's Cathedral

In Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," the narrator appears to have it all- a lovely, sympathetic wife, enough food on the table to keep them happy, and the often underestimated gift of sight. But behind this satisfied exterior seems to lie a wealth of blindness, ignorance, jealousy, and a substance abuse problem that he uses to escape the rigors of his reality. On the other hand, the pitied blind man is really the one who should be envied. He appears to have a more accurate view of the world than most with two healthy eyes. In addition, he has a closer relationship with the narrator's wife than the narrator does himself. The blind man's high came from his relationship with his own wife, and not mind-altering substances. But to the narrator's surprise, as the story progresses the narrator's eyes are opened to the blind man's world.

On the outside, it would appear as if the narrator could see and the blind man was the one without sight. But on the contrary, the narrator was blinded by his own ignorance. Although he knew little about the blind visitor, the narrator passed judgment on him before even meeting him. "And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed" (Carver 186). Clearly it shows he had little knowledge about the blind when he says, "I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind" or "I remembered reading somewhere that the blind didn't smoke" (190-191). He foolishly looked for any reason to dislike the man, whether it was because he had married a colored woman named Beulah or because he had a beard on his face (188-189). Unlike the narrator, the blind man keeps an open mind to new experiences and states that he is always learning something because learning never ends, thus demonstrating his lack of ignorance (193).