He thinks it is odd for the blind man to have a beard because he cannot see it. Throughout the story, the narrator mentions Robert’s beard.
The narrator judges Robert by his outward appearance instead of making an effort to delve deep into Robert and judge him on what truly matters. The husband describes the blind man as “ the late forties, a heavy-set, balding man” with “stooped shoulders” (Carver 5). The husband goes into great detail about the other man’s appearance, thus reflecting society’s condescending views.
Something the husband pays extra attention to is the physical appearance of the blind man. Society often looks down on others if they do not live up to the standards of perfection that it holds. Throughout the story, the husband’s shallow views of people strongly reflect the superficial views of society nowadays. The symbolism of alcohol, the cathedral, the tapes, and blindness all play a strong part in the overall lesson of the story. The narrator gradually begins to see deeper into the blind man once they begin talking to each other and he finally pushes away his shallow views and realizes that there is more to a person than what is on the surface. The narrator’s inability to look past the outward appearances of characters within the story results in his dismissal of Robert due to his disability.
A blind man, Robert, has to stay at the narrator’s house after his wife’s untimely passing due to cancer. In this quote, Anna Coleman portrays how society views others and the fundamental views of the narrator in the short story “Cathedral.” In the story, the author Raymond Carver displays the superficial ideals of society through the narrator, the husband. “For they do not look through to the soul, nor have a keen eye for virtue, but they stop at the outward excellencies of the body and admire daring, and strength, speed in running, and size, and consider these as fit qualifications for the purple robe and diadem” (Goodreads).
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