In addition to your regular response, answer the following question regarding Raymond Carver's short story Cathedral.
The term "epiphany," coined by James Joyce, has been used frequently in 20th century fiction to describe moments of "revelation" in a story where "everything becomes clear" to a character. The critic Malcolm Cowley defines epiphany as "that sudden reaching out of two characters through walls of inarticulateness and misunderstanding."
To what extent does "Cathedral" end in an epiphany? How do you know?
Please do not forget to use headings:
- A Title for your response "Be Creative"
- Basic Passage
- Correlation
- Difficulties
I am looking for complexity in the correlation--a surprising or new angle.
Please separate each section.
For example:
Title: Diet Coke Is The Reason
Intro to author: We, as readers, know very little about Billy Collins from the small amount of information the book entails. Billy Collins was born in 1941 in a New York City hospital he claims William Carlos Williams worked as a pediatric resident. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of California at Riverside in which he specialized in the Romantic Period. Now, he teaches at Lehman College of the City University.
Basic Passage: “and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.”
Correlation: I can definitely relate to this! I believe I am the one person out of all my friends around me who has the shortest memory. I feel like I am on the same level as my grandmother who is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease. No, I don’t forget my name or the names of my family and friends I see often. But as it says in the passage, I believe I forget a piece of information or a memory every time I study, learn something new, or create a new memory. I believe this “forgetfulness” of mine is related to my obsessed addiction to Diet Coke. Maybe if I start taking Gingko Biloba, it’ll counteract the Nutrasweet that leads to memory loss. But all joking aside, this poem demonstrates how valuable the present moment is. The knowledge that we will forget make "now" all that more important. We must surrender to this knowledge, this loss. This poem is bittersweet. It is about both
loss and life in the guise of forgetfulness.
Difficulties: I had no problem reading or understanding this poem.
Required questions:Identify the cause of human suffering—Tragedy
How can the tragedy be turned into a comedy?
Identify the cause of joy or happiness—comedy
22 comments:
Jesus,Fingers,and Ears For Eyes By Daniel Wise ABout RAymond CArvers story "Cathedral"
Raymond Carver was born in 1938 in Yakima, Washington, and he grew up outside Chico, California untill 1988. He attended college at Chico State College where he first learned about writting from Professor John Gardner who taught him about many major works of fiction and litterary works and knovels. He wrote and published; Sports Afield, True, Argosy, and Rogue.
"He was nodding . The whole upper part seemed to be moving back and forth."
" I'm not doingb so good, am I?" I said. He stopped nodding and leaned forwardon the edge of the sofa. As he listened to me , he was running his fingers through his beard."
"They're really big," I said. "They're massive. They're built of stone. Marble, too, sometimes. In those olden days men wanted to be close to God. But in those olden days, God was an important part of everyone's life.
"Let m,e ask you a simple question, yes or no. I'm just curious and theres no offense. You'e my host. But let me ask you are you in any way religious? I guess I don't believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it' hard. You know what i'm saying?"
Next The host gives the blind man some paper and pens and begins to teach him what he knows about christ even though he doesn't know much about him he begins to teach the blind man how to draw a cathedral. The blind man uses the hosts verbal cues and guidance on issues about christ and God and about how to draw. We learn earlier that the blind man is about to die soon and is in poor conditions. The host offers him luxuries that are not healthy for him this is wrong I believe. But the blind man learns to accept his condition and fate and learns about God through learniong about art and drawing and he has the best time spewnding time with a friend who cares about him although he does somethings that are not right he knows that he means no harm. He enjoys pictuiring what acathedral would look like and imagines hiomself being inside it one day aftrer death. He most of all is known for using the senses of listening , touch, and appreciation for learning about God. To live well before dying.
Title: Acceptance
Intro to Author: Raymond Carver was born in Clatskaine, Oregon and grew up in Yakima, Washington in a life of "bare subsistence". He, however, managed to graduate fron Chico State University in 1963 and went on to continue his studies in writing at Ohio State University and Stanford University. Carver's writing style resembles that of Hemingway, illustrated in his direct and conversational tone. Raymond Carver views the dark side of humanity through his characters' situations, but brings to light its compassionate, forgiving side with his narrative voice.
Basic Passage: "Close your eyes now," the blind man said to me. I did it. Closed them just like he said..."Keep them that way," he said. He said "Don't stop now. Draw." So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.
"Cathedral" ends in an epiphany in that the narrator's acceptance of Robert allows him to view things from another perspective and grow as a person. We know an epiphany takes plce because the author essentially tells us through the narrator's words "It was like nothing else in my life up to now".
Difficulties: I could not correlate this story to a particular event in my life.
Tragedy: Robert losing his wife and the narrator's resentment and closed mind toward Robert
Comedy: the narrator accepts and learns from Robert in the end
The tragedy could be changed into a comedy if the narrator would have been more open to Robert from the begining instead of resenting the relationship between Robert and his (the narrator's) wife.
But You Cannot Make Him Drink, a title for my comment on the short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, who wrote poems and short stories, was influenced by Hemingway and his teacher, John Gardner, while he was at Chico State College. BASIC PASSAGE-"Close your eyes now," the blind man said to me. I did it. I closed them just like he said......He said, "Don't stop now. Draw."...."I think that's it. I think you got it," he said. "Take a look. What do you think?" But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do. "Well?" he said. "Are you looking?" My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. "It's really something," I said. CORRELATION- The sighted man in this story has a very short-sighted and limited view of others/things as he seems to be not interested in seeing anything, or learning anything, beyond his own sphere of life interests. With the blind mans help he has the chance to 'open' his eyes, but he does not; he had the opportunity to 'see' a "Cathedral" but he does not/chooses not to. DIFFICULTIES- I had no problem reading this short story, even though it is a bit bland, which is to be expected as some have called Carver a minimalist. REQUIRED QUESTIONS- The tragedy is the sighted man does not take the opportunity the blind man gives him to 'see' things past his own life. The comedy is that the blind man sees more than the sighted man does. The tragedy could have been turned into a comedy if the sighted man had let himself 'see', like the blind man was trying to show him. I do not feel that "Cathedral" ends in an epiphany for the sighted man because he says to himself "My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was really inside anything." Nothing has changed for the sighted man; he has not even moved out of his own house with the drawing he and the blind man were drawing of a cathedral, eyes closed, with only their hands.
A: "Cathedral"
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Raymond Carver was born in clatskaine, oregon, and was raised in Yakima, Washington. He was influenced by Faulkner and Hemingway. He wrote many poems and essays, but is known for his short fiction. He was described as a minimalist and wrote mainly about ordinary people.
B: "My wife sat on the sofa between the blind man and me." (2181)
C: I think that this passage shows how the wife in this story comes between her husband and the blind man without meaning to. The two men create space between them by sitting as far away from each other as the couch allows. Then the wife comes and sits between them building a wall, but once she falls asleep, the two men connect. I think this shows how people allow things to come between them purposefully, but when those things are removed by accident, an understanding forms almost effortlessly.
1. The tragedy in this story is that there are many misconceptions about blind people and it takes a lot of one-on-one time to change even one person's errored opinion. Many have to see to believe. Even though his wife told him how great this man was, the husband had to meet him to see that blind people can be interesting.
2. This could be turned into a comedy if the blind man and the husband became friends.
3. The cause of joy in this story is the epiphany the husband has at the end of the story. He realizes that sometimes feeling is better than seeing.
D. I had a difficult time not getting distracted by the husband's sudden negative comments. Sometimes things didn't seem to flow well.
Title:
"He Was Blind"
Author:
Raymond Carver attended Chico State College and was taguht by John Gardner who was to become a famous novelist. Garner introduced Carver to several major authors. Stories drew from his working class background in Yakima Washington. He published ewssays, poems, and short fiction (what he is most famous for). He writes with compassion for ordinary men buthe does not ignore there flaws.
Basic Passage:
But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do. "Well?" he said. "Are you looking?"
My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything. "It's really something," I said.
Correlate:
Through out the entire story we can obviously tell that the husband is very uncomfortable about being around this blindman. He has a prejudice against blind people probably just because he is kinda afraid of what he doesn't understand. In the passage I chose it seems like he is sort of discovering what it is like to be blind. ANd there does seem to be an EPIPHANY. Like he just suddenly realized something...something that Robert could not communicate to him through words much like the husband could not communicate the appearance of the cathedral to Robert throuhg mere wordplay. That sudden reaching out of two characters through walls of inarticulateness and misunderstanding, is sucha a good description of this ending here. The husbands eyes are closed and he says "that is really something." On a surface level all I see is that he possibly finally understands whta Robert feels like but there has to be something much deeper here. The husband is curious about the differences in Catholicism and Protestanism cuz he asked Robert about it. Maybe on the tapes that he sent Robert has brought up the subject of religion before. Maybe that is the reason the husband is so uncomfortable around him. At first i was jsut thinking that Robert suggested that they draw a cathedral because he was still interested in finding out what one was like but now I think there was a more important reason for that suggestion. Husband says earliere that God was a very important part of people's life back then in the "olden days" and that people built cathedrals to get close to God. So Robert and husband "build" a cathedral to try and get close to God to see what he is like somehow. Man... and husband knows that that is what Robert irs trying to do uz he is nervous when he runs up the stairs his legs have that weak feeling like when you get really nervous or shaken up. God is not a part of the husbands life. But to me the strory indicates that he wants to know God.. he already acknowledges his esistence... he does not adhere to any religious exercise ...he is unsure. but he finds something, he realizes something I don't know what though.
Difficulties:
I don't know what he realizes but he certainly does realize something. He dosn't feel like he is inside anything" Maybe he doesn't feel like he is inside a cathedral... he doesn't fell close to God. Is that it?
Tragedy:
the tragedy is that the Husband wants to have a connection with a higher power but doesn't know how. he looks back to the past and sees that Men were close to God and that they magnified the importance of this by building incredible structures for the purpose of worship.
This tragedy would be turned into a comedy if the husband found the way, the truth as to how to get close to God.
AUTHOR: Raymond Carver was determined to become a writer, even though studying to do so would keep his family in a financial bind. He came from a modest backgound, and had to work hard. He was basically an average, hard working man with a dream.
BASIC PASSAGE: I can remember I didn't think much of the poem. Of course, I didn't tell her that. Maybe I just don't understand poetry. I admit it's not the first think I reach for when I pick up something to read.
CORRELATION: The narrator is very open with the fact that he is uncomfortable about having the blind man as a guest. He doesn't try to be something he's not and act like he would be overjoyed to learn how a person with his handicap gets around in everyday life. However, he is his wife's personal friend. She is comfortable with it. She likes poetry. She wants her husband to give it a chance. Her husband however doesn't see a need in giving it a chance.
I can sort of relate to her. I have a friend who is very cut and dry. He doesn't like things that are different from him and doesn't want to get to know different cultures. He just wants to live his life with things that reinforce his own ideas. Coincidently. he doesn't like poetry either. Its not normal to him and he doesn't want to try anything different. Like our narrator.
DIFFICULTY: no difficulty
TRAGEDY: It is a tragedy that the narrator is so blind to things that are larger than his own life
COMEDY: At the end of the story, the narrator's "eyes" are opened.
EPIPHANY: The blind man knows that the narrator's eyes have been shut to his own feelings and to seeing beauty in unexpected things. The narrator believes that the blind man is the one missing out on everything. However, the blind man gives the seeing man a life-changing experience that allows him to see beyond himself.
Title: Assurance
Author: Raymond Carver was born in 1938 in Yakima, Washington. He moved to Chico, California and attended Chico State College where started taking creative writing classes. He died in 1988 and has always been called a "minimalist".
Passage: "Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one."
Correlation: This passage can be looked at from two different angles. One angle of the wife and one angle from the blind husband. From the wife's angle it is very sad because her husband never gets to see her physical appearance, he can only imagine. But in a loving sense her husband, the blind man, loves her no matter what she looks like. It shouldn't take someone's looks to make someone else love them. He seemed to be happy with her personality and not worrying about her looks. He is content with being blind and accepting the fact that he can't see his loved one. I can relate to this, because i have assurance in my friends and family not because of my looks or what I have, but just for me and my personality.
Tragedy: The story makes it out that blind people can't really believe in things and see the real beauty unless they really see it for real.
Comedy: Accepts everything about the blind man.
It could be a complete comedy if the blind man and the husband were friends all along and didn't have any awkwardness.
Difficulties: I didn't have any difficulty reading the story.
Title: First time for everything
Author:
Raymond Carver was a very important writer in the later 20th century. He was a master of the short story. After starting a family very young (he had two children by the time he was twenty) he worked a lot of odd jobs to get by, a real starving artist. He divorced his first wife and married another writer named Tess. He was a heavy drinker and died of lung cancer at age 50.
Basic Passage:
"My wife gave me a savage look. Then she looked at the blind man and said, 'Robert, I didn't know you smoked.'
He said, 'I do now, my dear. There's a first time for everything. But I don't feel anything yet.'"
-Cathedral
Correlation:
I think that the blind man is trying to experience everything he can by experiencing it through someone else. He reads, he smokes, he drinks, he rides the train and airplane, he lives just like anyone else would. He just happens to see everything in the world differently than most people. He is able to experience things spiritually first, through his mind's eye, rather than having a distorted truth pass through his physical eye. He can see that the husband is not using his abilities to fully understand what it is like to be alive. He has not gotten that spiritual "out of body" feeling that is associated with enlightenment. He is a grounded person. The blind man can sense this and tries to coax him out of his shell of familiarity and comfort when he draws the cathedral with him later. I think the passage I chose is the foreshadowing of the husband's experience and possibly showing how the husband has affected the blind man, offering his home, food, drink, smoke, company to his pleasure. He is returning the favor the best way he can, and I think the blind man's gift is better.
Tragedy:
The tragedy is that so many people are living in a fog and don't know it. They don't know the way you can feel in life about everything that happens. They see without seeing.
Comedy:
The comedy is that the husband becomes enlightened at the end of the story. His tone even changes at the end of the story. He is enjoying the experience and wants to stay in it (the hesitance to open his eyes).
Epiphany:
I think the epiphany is that the husband uses his spiritual eye. He has been a stagnant, passive person in life up until now. After this experience, I think he will be able to see and understand more, but he will still remain somewhat passive (too much change too quickly would alienate himself from everything he is used to now). I also think there is irony in that they were drawing a cathedral to get to the epiphany (closer to God by spiritual practice and understanding) and that the man who showed him how to see was blind.
*Mr. Alford, I tried to post this response several hours ago, and the option to publish your comment was not available. Sorry for the delay.
I want to comment on the fact that many of my fellow students felt the sighted man had an epiphany. As in my first post I still do not feel that he had any kind of epiphany at the end of the story; he could not even get his 'minds eye' to get out of the room he was in. To say that he had an epiphany, is to, possibly, never to have had one yourself.
I agree with Pheurbel to a point. The husband in the story may not have had an epiphany as most people think of the word, but I think that the tone of the story changes near the end, a rush at the end, some could call it a climax, which implies some kind of change in the overall feel and the emotions of the characters. He may have experienced an epiphany in his own sense, on his own terms. He says that "It was like nothing else in my life up to now." A person can experience a change, or an enlightenment, or an epiphany, for themselves. They don't have to justify it with anyone else and they don't have to explain it to anyone. That person is the only one who has understand what happened. It doesn't have to be religious. I also think that to be a real epiphany (definition - an appearance or manifestation, especially of a diety), the person living it should be the only one who understands it.
Comment on Pheurbel's response:
I disagree that the narrator doesn't have an epiphany. Pheurbel says the narrator doesn't take the opportunity to let Robert help him "open" his eyes, but he does as evident by his statement to feeling as though he were inside nothing, like nothing he had ever experienced in his life up to that point...he's now free from his closed-minded past.
About the epiphany, i think that a real epiphany would be a life changing event. If the narrator were to have had a true epiphany, we would not know it because the story stops. It is open to interpretation. I think that the narrator really did have his eyes opened and he really had an experience. Now, I doubt that he went out that night and bought a book of poetry, but I think that his experience could have been like opening a doorway to different things for him.
I agree with all the other comments. I think that the epiphany could go ethier way. In a way yes he did have an epiphany because in the end alot of things became clear to him, but I also agree with Rachel that an epiphany should be like a huge "life changing event." And obviously thats not what happened because the story leaves us to imagine and we do not know for sure.
i agree with k-dub he says "the person living it should be the only one who understands it." I could have an epiphany but to another it may not be an epiphany. It may be something that someone else has known or realized since they were a child but at the same time something i am just expieriencing. So I dont think that we can decide for another whether or not they have had an epiphany
I am commenting on K-dubs responese. I like how the husband just assumed certain things such as that the guy didnt smoke because he was blind. I think now a days that sort of thing happends a lot. People make assumptions based on only what they can see. For example a person that lives in a bad neighborhood automatically gets the label that their a drug dealer or alcoholic just based on their living situations. We shouldn't jump to conclusions without first seeing things for wha they truely are.
I feel that there was a definite epiphany. Just like Maggaly pointed out from the story, it said "It was like nothing else in my life up to now." For those questioning whether or not there was an epiphany should read the definition: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
"uncomfortable" - response to "Cathedral"
Author: Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Raymond Carver was at first an uneducated writer from Yakima, Washington. He changed this by enrolling in Chicago State College, where his professor, John Gardner, would expose him to works by authors such as Hemingway that would later influence his writing.
Basic Passage:
"I shook my head. He couldn't see that, though. A wink is the same as a nod to a blind man. " I guess I don't believe in it. In anything. Sometimes it's hard. You know what I'm saying?"
Correlate:
I believe this is the first time the author has really thought about his spirituality. The fact that he could not verbally answer "no" gives me this impression and also that he feels uncomfortable about his answer. He could also have the thought that if there was a higher being, then why is this other man blind. Many people have questions like this. I belive that God put people with ailments in front of us to let us know how fortunate we really are. He is also giving us an opportunity to be compassionate and model ourselves after him. I may just be naive. The host shows his compassion when he agrees to draw the Cathedral for the blind man. I believe this is when he has his epiphany and really begins to question his spirituality. Even though the ending is left open this is just my interpretation.
Difficulties: I had none. I actually enjoyed this piece.
Required Questions:
Tragedy: That this man is blind
How can it be turned into a comedy:
If the host could REALLY learn something from the blind man.
Comedy: That maybe the host bonds with the blind man.
I agree with K- Dubs comment. I belive that the blind man is teaching him things that could not be taught by any other person. I agree that the host is letting the blind man experience things also. This just goes to show that if we are open to others we may could benefit from it.
Daniel Wisew Said:
Cathedral, Raymond Carver
I believe tyhat there is also another meaning and deffinition for teh term "Epiphany" which can be found in some dictionaries which says to commemorate the regvealing as Jesus the CHrist to the Gentiles. WHile there is another meaning that says "there is a sudden reaching out of two characters through walls of inarticulateness and missunderstanding." In the story cathedral we find that the host offers the blind man a once and a life time chance to know aboutv God, and Jesus Christ. As he tries to help him draw the pictures of the cathedral it's almost like he is taking him to church with him. The two men bond together withj a lot of moral respect for one another and seem to find better ways to pass some quallity time.
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
"Cathedral"
BACKGROUND: Raymond Carver was born in Clatskaine, Oregon in 1938 but grew up in Yakima, Washington in a life of "bare subsistence." He got married at the age of 18 and was forced to support himself and his family. He pushed himself through Chico State College and later attended Stanford and Ohio State University. Raymond Carver was influenced by Hemingway and he focused his stories ofn characters that struggle in life [alcoholism, poor, etc.]
PASSAGE: "Take a look. What do you think?" But I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
CORRELATION: I think here, the blind man is trying to help the sighted man see things in a different way. Sometimes you have to step away from the situation in order to fully "see" the whole picture. The narrartor says, "I thought it was something I ought to do." I think he was really starting to grasp the idea at this point. He had almost reached his epiphany.
TRAGEDY: The tragedy was the narrartor's resentment or ignorance and closed mind toward Robert. The narrartor had made his decision about blind people based on misconceptions and it took a lot of time and conversation and "sight" to change his mind.
COMEDY: The comedy was the sighted man could see less than the man without sight. The blind man relied on other senses to fully see things [smell, feel, sound]. The sighted man was so shut off from things that he only saw things in one-diminsion.
DIFFICULTIES: None.
I am going to respond to VCGUITARIST. They commented on K-DUBS post. VC said many times in our society people make assumptions, often times false assumptions of a particular group of people [blind, deaf, mentally challenged, athletes, musicians, etc.]. I agree that people often make ideas and jump to conclusions about people based on their actions or their looks. How often do people say, 'Oh, they must be lazy because they are poor' or 'I bet they don't have a college education.' In the story, the narrartor thinks the blind man won't smoke simply because he is blind. I think we, as members of society, should make a conscious effort to break down the natural habit to stereotype minority groups.
in response to lindsey's post:
I think you're absolutely right about how people allow things (or other people) to come between them needlessly. It was good how the narrator and the blind man were able to get by this once the wife fell asleep.
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