Best of Week: Cathedral

In class on Friday, we discussed a short story called Cathedral. At first, I was reading the short story and I was wondering why we were required to read it. I mean, it was this piece of writing that really had nothing to do with any of our previous readings. The content of the story surprised me. I was not expecting the husband to offer Robert, the blind man, marijuana. I was not expecting Robert to get along so well with the husband, who seemed to dislike the idea that his wife was sharing the intimate details of her life with a complete stranger. There were a lot of things I just wasn't expecting.

I think after reading through the short story, I was able to conclude that things aren't always the way they seem. Now, I know that sounds cliche, but in this case, it is especially true. I think what interested me the most about this story was the way Robert was able to do all of these things, despite all the negative things the husband thought and said about him. I thought it was incredible how Robert could tell the difference between a color television and a black and white television just by listening to what was playing on the screen. I also thought it was important to realize that Robert was able to prove the husband wrong in everything he had previously thought about the blind man without even being aware of it himself. Robert's physical appearance and abilities do things really showed the husband how wrong he was about Robert.

Not only is this story important in that it shows how prejudice towards something you know nothing about can prove you wrong, but it also shows the importance of emotion. The husband and wife in the story were struggling to keep a strong relationship. They had no emotional connection or even effective communitcation. But the blind man allowed the wife to feel open emotionally again and have a connection with someone. The close friendship the wife and Robert had made the husband feel uncomfortable, and probably jealous, since he knew he never made his wife feel happy the way Robert did. I think the importance of a strong friendship is vital to this story, and also to real life. Many people can draw parallels to this short story, whether they be in the failing relationship between the husband and wife, or the blossoming one between the wife and Robert. This is what makes this story so relatable. Even though this story is a work of fiction, the author creates this piece of that contains events many people face in real life.
So maybe this short story wasn't such a random choice afterall.