Analysis Of `` Cathedral `` By
Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver's unnamed narrator in "Cathedral" provides a first–person point of view. This perspective opens a clear window into the feelings, attitudes, and the isolation of the unnamed narrator. The narrator's tone of voice reveals his feelings and personality. This contributes to the story's themes because the reader comes to understand things that the narrator never directly or deliberately reveals; as a result, the reader comes to empathize with the narrator more deeply. Isolation and loneliness are prevalent themes in "Cathedral". Appropriately, the narrator is insular and narrow–minded. He is unhappy and resentful because he overlooks the worth and liveliness of other people and is unable to make connections with them. Consequently he is afflicted with loneliness and isolation. "He is numb and isolated", says Mark A.R. Facknitz, "a modern man for whom integration with the human race would be so difficult that it is futile. Consequently he hides by failing to try, anesthetizes himself with booze, and explains away the world with sarcasm." (Facknitz 294) The narrator also appears to be emotionally distant from his wife. Neither he nor his wife are able to relate successfully to one another. Because of this, he is envious of the blind man, Robert, who seems to be the only one capable of creating and sustaining deep and personal connections with other people. As the story develops, the narrator's increasing ability to connect with Robert and his wife emphasizes the
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What attitudes define the narrator throughout much of the story? What is his attitude toward his wife, toward Robert, toward his own experience and the experience of others? The short story "Cathedral" written by Raymond Carver is about a blind widower, his good friend and old employee, and the good friend's husband. The narrator of the story is the husband of the widower's friend and the thoughts and feelings from him portray a man who is fearful of the unknown. The author does a wonderful job portraying the idea that the narrator has a slight bit of prejudice and even jealousy towards the blind widower, Robert. This is made apparent in many of the comments the narrator makes including the suggestion to take the man bowling, even though he is aware that bowling is not a kind or proper activity to suggest...show more content... He even outright states, "I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me (Page 94)." The idea that his prejudice is based on fear is clearly pointed out in the introduction as well. The narrator makes it clear to the readers that his only understanding of anyone suffering from blindness comes from the movies. This understanding paints all blind people as unhappy individuals who never find the time to smile (Page 94). The narrator takes on an annoyed attitude towards his wife and the whole of the situation. He behaves as if he could not be bothered to take an interest in this widower regardless of his wife's attachment to the man. Even though his wife seems to not care about the blind man whose recorded tapes seemingly saved her life after a bought of depression almost took it away. There are even times in the story where the readers gain a feeling of indifference from the narrator. The way he watches Robert and turns on the television disregarding the idea that he cannot see the
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Carver
Raymond
Cathedral
A cathedral is known to be a place where a person performs religious practices in the light of one or more deities. Cathedrals can connect people who share the same beliefs by gathering them all together; the same goes for any religion. In the short story, "Cathedral," written by Raymond Carver, the controlling image is a cathedral, as it is repetitive from becoming the title of the story to the main symbol through the entirety of the narration. Carver makes an appeal to emphasize that – through the story's plot, his style of writing, the captivating use of imagery, and the overall theme of the story – a simple building can shed some light on how one chooses to view the world.
The tale's events unfold by starting with an unnamed narrator "telling...show more content...
The rising action begins as the wife prepares dinner, and subtly points out to the narrator that he is detached and disconnected from the world around him, even saying that "You don't have any friends" (Carver, p. 475). When Robert arrives, he catches up with the narrator's wife, as the narrator inputs his own opinions every once in a while. The narrator takes in Robert's appearance, and surprisingly concludes that he was not a stereotypical blind man with dark glasses and a cane. The trio then "drink heavily and eat a large dinner" (Akers). After the feast, the narrator rudely switches on the television, much to his wife's dismay, and avoids making conversation with Robert. The wife leaves the room, and the narrator and Robert bond with a mutual interest in cannabis. A climactic documentary over cathedrals appears on the television, as the wife returns and falls asleep on the couch. The narrator attempts to describe to the blind man what he sees on the television; however, he struggles and is "unable to find the words to describe a cathedral" (Akers). He admits that "cathedrals do not mean anything special to him" (Stern). Through the falling action of the story, Robert asks the narrator to get some paper and a pen so
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Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay
Cathedral Raymond Carver
Man Vu
Mr. Sharp
Comp. 1
13 Ferbuary 2017
Cathedral: An annotated bibliography
McManus, Dermot. "Cathedral by Raymond Carver." The Sitting Bee, The Sitting Bee, 25 Dec. 2013, sittingbee.com/cathedral–raymond–carver/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2017.
This review of the short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver is very insightful. The author points out the theme of the story right from the beginning. The theme includes jealousy, insecurity, isolation, detachment, and connection. Then the author begins to break–down the symbolism of each sense in the story that Carver uses to create a deeper level of meaning in his story. For example, when Robert asks the narrator to describe a cathedral for him, the narrator is unable to think of anything to say and couldn't...show more content... His second hypothesis following the first one by saying that the cathedral is the most glorious man–made sight someone could witness. The last hypothesis we get from the creator is that the cathedral is quiet and peaceful place. Without any conclusion, the creator ended the video with an open question "What was the reason that Carver went with a cathedral?" This ending has left a huge question in everyone who watches the video, but it is also a great way to force those watchers to come up with their own conclusion from what they have learned from the Get
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Raymond Carver
Cathedral by Raymond Carver
In Raymond Carver?s ?Cathedral?, the conventional ideas often associated with blindness and sight are challenged. By juxtaposing his two male characters, Carver is able to effectively explore sight and its seemingly simplistic relationship with learning and knowledge. As well, he addresses the barriers imposed by the human tendency to rely on vision as the sole means of experiencing the world.
At the beginning of the story, the narrator?s perception on blind people as individuals who ?moved slowly and never laughed? reflect not only his but also the views generally shared by society (720). The uneasiness experienced by the narrator at the prospect of ?[a] blind man in [his] house? is a...show more content... he is. As the night wears on the narrator challenges Robert?sblindness in all sorts of ways?drinking, smoking cigarettes dope, and turning on the TV?which leads to their drawing of the cathedral and the narrator?s ?awakening.?
Carver develops the two main characters in his story to be completely contrasted to each other, in these characters not only does sight and blindness become conflicted with each other but also does the issue of knowledge. Carver uses the narrator to represent an individual who sees but cannot ?see? and Robert as one who can ?see? but lacks the ability to see. Through the interaction between them, Carver address societies misconception of vision and its connection with knowledge. He brings to the foreground the idea of sight being the handicap rather then blindness. This is illustrated through the narrator?s inability to understand his wife and her ?poems? and Roberts ability to do so. Robert?s attitude of ?learning never ends? and his ability to fearlessly experience new things such as ?dope? and gain new knowledge regardless of his ?disability? shows that he is not the one that is disabled (727). Rather it is the hesitance of the narrator that is the handicap and barrier that initially lies between them.
Our vision is perceived to be our most trusted sense, as the old saying goes ?seeing is believing? thus
Essay about Cathedral
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Raymond Carver's collection of short stories has uniquely played a major revival role in the style of short stories especially during the second part of the 20th century. In "Cathedral," Carver creates among the least number of short–stories but the longest in his conventional short story series. In this study, we seek to find out the major characteristics of Carver'sshort story, "Cathedral". The short story is his final and one of his finest having the setting of American towns and the ever depressed semi–industrial districts. The short story offers familiar and strong controls that cover the entire material with great style.
To begin with, the story is basically written in the first person voice and in the author's common style ofminimalism. In other words, the author uses the minimalism whereby the reader is only given a light view of the information and left to find out more about the underlying situation ...show more content...
The reason for this is because Carver's story is considered to be 'cold'; he uses devices that keep distance between the reader's view of his personality and the actual truth inside his character's lives (Obaid, 9). I consider this to be one proof for existence of creeps in Carver's work. This could be the case because Carver might be depicting the kind of life he used to live in the story. Hence, "Cathedral" can be termed as work with merits in the stories despite the failures depicted by his characters. He manages to show the reader that his perils and temptations are now clear to him.
Briefly, this paper is trying to analyze the key elements in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral." Being his final work, Raymond successfully portrays the real world he lives in. the ignorance and prejudice shown by his figures shows the narrators attitude hence giving interesting lessons to the reader on how to find the beauty in their life hence they can avoid the prejudgments that accompany the real world
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Underneath the basic plot line of "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver is a story about a man's battles with himself. He is insecure in his relationship with his wife, has stereotypes about people that need to be broken, and he is cold and distant in all relationships that are seen in the short story. The main character, "Bub", is telling what is believed to be an honest story from the first person perspective. In most stories, the main character is the protagonist and is liked and respected by the readers, but in "Cathedral", Bub is neither liked nor respected because of his judgmental notions and his cold side with his wife and guest. In most stories, the reader expects to like and understand the protagonist from the beginning, but
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Raymond Carver Cathedral Summary
Blind to the Blind
To be imaginative is to be a child. As a person ages, he is expected to mature into adulthood and to live in the real world. He is expected to abandon his childhood dreams and cultivate practicality and factuality. However, imaginations are not limited to unicorns and dragons; it is a skill a person must nurture to realize his dreams and desires. To be imaginative is to be a visionary. Without a vision, a person lacks the sight for compassion, curiosity, and self–consciousness. In this sense, imagination is not only to think outside the box, but also to search deeper inside. In the short story, "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, Carver develops the idea that a lack of imagination limits a person to the physical and visible world which leads to the blindness to the abstract world and rejection of the uncertain future. It is when a person opens his eyes to the unseen that he can create emotional connection with others and discover the profound truth inside himself. The narrator's lack of imagination leads him to reject what is beyond his visual perception. The narrator looks at his surroundings plainly as they are and therefore fails to see the deeper meanings behind it. Throughout the story, the narrator is watching television, which symbolizes his narrow perspective and his failure to observe the world on his own. His "idea of blindness came from the movies" (Carver 315) and this preconceived notion results in his unenthusiastic attitude towards Robert before
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Raymond Carver Cathedral Analysis
By Raymond Carver
"Cathedral" is a short story that was written by Raymond Carver in 1981. Raymond Carver is most well known for his short stories and is even an writer credited with reviving the then dying form of literature. A part of a collection of short stories, "Cathedral" was the last to be published and was included in 1982's Best American Short Stories. "Cathedral is different from the other works of Carver due to the humanistic realism that is given to his characters, which had not been seen before in his works. This shift earned Carver the critical success he always wanted and "Cathedral" became his most famous work. "Cathedral" is Carver's most revered work of literature and is due mostly in part to his shift in style with his storytelling. The story follows the narrator and his wife who has invited her old friend to stay at their home because his wife has just passed away. The friend, Robert, is blind and the narrator's wife worked for him as a reader ten years prior. They remained close and kept in touch by sending audiotapes to one another, recounting what was going on in their lives. Robert's blindness makes the narrator uncomfortable and he does not look forward to his visit, even though it is quite important to his wife. The three spend a somewhat awkward evening together and the narrator become more comfortable with Robert as the night progresses and as his wife falls asleep. The narrator gains some compassion for Robert and attempts to describe what the cathedral on the Get
`` Cathedral ``
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By Raymond Carver
Literary elements such as symbolism are found in almost any piece of writing. Symbolism is used to portray the deeper meaning of something by representing it with anything the writer chooses. In the short story, ВЁCathedral,ВЁ Raymond Carver uses many forms of symbolism to portray the different events and their meanings within his writing. The use of symbolism such as the physical and emotional meanings of blindness can describe different meanings behind elements of the story. In the critical essay, the author discusses why an author might choose to make a character bling and what it means. Diane Andrews Henningfeld, the author of the critical essay explains, "clearly the author wants to emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond physical." Blindness can be more than just the levels of physical sight and the author wants that to be understood. The author wants to emphasize and make it very clear that other levels of sight and blindness exist like not seeing the beauty in life and being blind to it beyond just being able to see with your eyes. The quote can feel something about the characters traits and how they can be so opposite from their physical abilities. This quote Conveys the facts. People can see in different ways. It is stated that,"although he is blind, he 'sees' how to get along with others in profound and important ways. By contrast, the narrator, although sighted, does not see how his isolation damages himself, his wife, and their relationship. He is
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Symbolism In пїЅcathedral
by Raymond Carver
The story of Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, shows that you do not have to see someone or something in order to appreciate them for who or what they are. It is about a husband, the narrator, and his wife who live in a house. The wife, whose name they do not mention, has a very close friend who is blind. His name is Robert. Robert's wife dies, and comes to their house to spend a couple of days with the narrator and his wife. The narrator, whose name they do not mention as well, is always on edge because he does not really know Robert very well and he does not like blind people, but he is being friendly for his wife's sake. The story comes to an end when Robert and the narrator draw a cathedral together using the narrator's hand and helped by...show more content...
He only sees people for what they are on the outside, but is blind to appreciating the true beauty of a person's inner self. You begin to understand this better when the narrator goes to say prayers, and this baffles the wife. The narrator says, "Now let us pray, I said, and the blind man lowered his head. My wife looked at me, her mouth agape. Pray the phone won't ring and the food doesn't get cold, I said." Now normally prayers are said to show appreciation to all that God has blessed you with. The narrator prays in a cold type of way, because he cannot believe in a God if he does not appreciate the beauty of ones inner self. 


The second thing that makes the theme or message come out is the characterization in the story. In Cathedral, there are three main characters. The most important character in the story is Robert, the blind friend of the wife's. Unlike the narrator, Robert cannot physically see, but has a clear vision of appreciating the person's true inner self. For example, when the narrator cannot comprehend how Robert's wife even loved Robert. He says,
"It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit. And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment
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Essay on Cathedral
Raymond Carver
A New Perspective Everyone at one point has judged a book by its cover. In the short story, "Cathedral", Raymond Carver creates a narrator who bases off ideas and assumptions about blind people from movies. The narrator has never interacted with a blind person before the day where his wife invites her friend, who is named Robert, to stay. The narrator and Robert have never met, but the narrator has a strong dislike towards Robert before meeting. The narrator's closed–mindedness and misconceptions leads him to judge Robert, however after a few hours of interaction, the narrator learns more about him and grows to have a new perspective about people not being who they think they are. The narrator is pre–judgemental towards all people who are blind, whether or not he has met them. He believes all blind people are the same as those he has watched in movies. The narrator perception of the blind is that they "moved slowly and never laughed" and when they went out "they were led by seeing eye–dogs" (Carver 104). The movie industry creates a false image of the blind, which leads to the narrator's assumptions. However, the blind are not all the same, just like how everyone else in the world are not the same. People are designed to be different in their personalities, thoughts, looks and much more. The narrator's ideas of Robert are based off of false conceptions and this changes his attitude towards Robert. The narrator already has strong feelings towards Robert before meeting him
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Analysis Of ' Cathedral ' By
Raymond Carver
"Cathedral" is a short story ultimately about enlightment, finding something more meaningful and deeper with in one self. Although from an observing point of view nothing more in the story happens then a blind man assisting the narrator in drawing a cathedral. Although as known, the narrator's experience radically differs from what is actually "observed". He is enlightened and opened up to a new world of vision and imagination. This brief experience will have a life long effect on him. The reason for this strong and positive effect is not so much the relationship made between the blind man and the narrator or even the actual events leading up to this experience, but rather it is mostly due to what was drawn by the narrator. A...show more content... His further ignorance about the blind are focused in on Robert since he is aware of his upcoming visit. Hearing the marriage stories about Robert from his wife the narrator cannot realize how a woman could love a blind man, "It was beyond my understanding. Hearing this, I felt sorry for the blind man for a little bit. And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this women must have led" (508). This ignorance and immature understanding of relationships overshadows his attitude toward Roberts visit, unwanted and condescending. His attitude toward the blind man seems to change though before and furtherly during the connection they make as they draw the cathedral together. Although there is no evidence that the narrator's overall ignorances and prejudices are gone from the experience, it is very clear however that he does come to some sort of revelation and enlightment, "My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn't feel like I was inside anything" (515). Because what the narrator draws is a cathedral it is only assumable that this enlightment that the narrator experiences has to do with values of Christianity, in this case it would be a realization of equality and treating people with love, little is said about the effects this revelation has on him. The narrator through out most of the short story comes of as a pretty shallow character. Besides his stereotyping tendencies he comes of as callous and un–imaginative. He shows his lack of
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Essay on The Cathedral
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The Cathedral
By Raymond Carver Essay
"Cathedral" Born on May 25, 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon, Raymond Carver was destined to be a writer. He was a son of a sawmill worker and grew up working hard majority of his life. He married year after he finished high school and had two children with his wife at the time. He raised and supported his children with normal working class jobs such as delivering, janitorial and gas station services. Carver discovered his interest in writing after taking a creative writing course in college in 1958. His first success was in 1967 from the story "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" and ended up becoming a fulltime writer after losing his job at the time. He drank heavily and had problems with alcoholism around the same time, but he shortly recovered from that and started teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso and Syracuse University. A few years later in 1983 he won a literary award which made him focus on his full–time writing. His short story collection consisted of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," "Cathedral," and "Where I'm Calling from." In his short stories he mostly wrote about the everyday lives most experienced and problems of the poor, broken marriages, and financial problems. He died at the age of 50 of lung cancer but his stories continue to live on. For my first paper I will be analyzing "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver. In "Cathedral" Carver uses setting, characterization, and also symbolism to reveal that the narrator is blind, even Get more content
Reasoning Behind the Unfamiliar In Raymond Carver's story "Cathedral" there are many signs of prejudice, jealousy, misunderstandings and eventually what may appear to possibly be a development of friendship. There is a fair amount of preconceived judgment made by the narrator in regards to an old friend coming to visit his wife. At the beginning of the story the narrator refers to the old friend as "the blind man" (Carver 455) and makes it clear that he "wasn't enthusiastic about his visit." (456) Although, the narrator embarks into unknown territory while preparing for the visit and while engaging with a blind man during his stay, he finds himself seeing the world in a new light. The narrator, whom is eventually referred to as Bub...show more content...
The narrator's wife writes a poem about how "the blind man touch[es] her nose and lips" (456). The narrator shows resentment by acknowledging that he "didn't think much of the poem" (456). The fact that the narrator's wife writes a poem about the blind man physically touching her in an intimate way seems to upset him. He does not seem to press the issue with his wife since it was before meeting her, however it does seem to add to the list of reasons as to why the narrator may not like the idea of the visit to come. Although, the narrator struggles with the misunderstandings behind his wife's and the blind man's relationship it becomes apparent that Robert was in fact married. The narrator is proven to have jealous thoughts and a biased opinion of what blind people are like, but he realizes that Robert was now widowed and has lost a woman that "never [saw] herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one" (Carver 458). Robert was the "husband [that] could never read the expression on her face, be it misery or something better" (458). These revelations are just a few that possibly help the narrator start to feel some comfort behind the upcoming visit. In addition the narrator has a few prejudice thoughts about the blind man prior to his arrival, but they appear to change as the story evolves. The narrator is not afraid in voicing his Get more content
Raymond Carver Cathedral Essay
Symbolism In Cathedral
By Raymond Carver
Symbolism plays a big role in the short story by Raymond Carver because only towards the end of the story we find out why the story is called "Cathedral." The short story is called "Cathedral" because as the narrator and Robert, the blind man, are watching television Robert asks the narrator to describe him what a cathedral looks like since he has never been able to see one. However, because the narrator stated that he does not believe in something in particular, to him a cathedral is just a building that took about a hundred years to build and that they are very big and made of stone. But because Robert is not physically capable of seeing one for himself, the narrators description isn't helping too much. Then Robert had given the suggestion
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As with many short stories, Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" only has a few pages to develop his main character and create a scenario he or she must learn from or achieve something from or change because of. In such a short amount of space, word choice is integral in constructing a solid impression of the characters and their personalities in the reader's mind. Carver's simple use of language and sentence structure combined with his choice for point of view creates an intriguing tone and believable character interaction. This story, written as the thoughts of the narrator, is about an oldblind friend of his wife's coming to visit for the first time. The story focuses on the...show more content...
"I'm saying that at the end of the summer she let the blind man run his hands over her face, said goodbye to him married her childhood etc., who was now a commissioned officer..."(218). Every time this officer that is his wife's first husband comes up in the story, the narrator moves on to other subjects quickly. This reveals a jealousy in him that is not plainly written in the story. It allows the reader to learn about the narrator as he sets up the story. Because of this set up, the reader is able to expect and easily see the narrator's jealousy as he is later introduced to the blind man. He also omits names. The reader never learns the names of the narrator or his wife, though she is frequently involved in the story. This allows the reader to focus on essential characteristics of the character. The wife is merely the wife. The blind man is blind. Choice of point of view can change the tone and entire meaning gained from a story. The tone of this story would have been much different if it were written from the wife's point of view. She would not have been seen as the static nagging wife stereotype, the husband himself would have probably be viewed as unsupportive and a slacker, and the reader would have gained a better understanding of who this blind man was. However, for the sake of the story, the importance of the blind man is that he is blind. This is what is important to the narrator and this is what the
Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay
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Raymond Carver employs many symbols within "Cathedral" to associate the significant objects in the story to their meaningful effects on the main characters. The narrator's wife and Robert "made tapes and mailed them back and forth" and the narrator's wife would "put all kinds of stuff on [these] tapes" regarding her life (pp.36–37). Such audiotapes symbolize the support and understanding of another individual, especially the blind man, as the narrator's wife is unable to express her genuine thoughts and feelings to anyone else, which results in a build–up in negative emotions that are released through such a therapeutic action. After the death of Robert's wife, Beulah, he was left with "a half of a twenty–peso Mexican coin" to which the "other half of the coin went into the box with her" (pp. 37). This coin symbolizes the strong marriage and relationship blind man and his wife shared, which cannot even by broken by one's death as each of them hold a piece, the half of the coin, of a reminder of their undying love. While watching television, the narrator is asked by the blind man to "describe [a cathedral] to [him]" to which the narrator is dumbfounded by his inability to depict of one (pp.43). Nevertheless, the blind man persists and requests that they "draw one together" to which the narrator designates the experience "like nothing else in [his] life up to now" as he closes his eyes (pp.44–45). Prior to drawing the cathedral, the narrator's unsuccessful depiction of one shows how even though he has the ability to physically see a cathedral, he lacks the ability to see beyond the surface and grasp a deeper understanding. However, drawing the cathedral with his eyes closed signifies how the narrator is "seeing" the cathedral from the blind man's perspective, which is more detailed and comprehensive, even though Robert lacks the ability to see. Through the embedded symbols of the audiotapes, the coin, and the cathedral, the audience can see how such trivial objects can significantly impact each of the character's lives. The narrator's style of narration reveals his character's narrow–mindedness and apathy that contributes to his character's unhappiness. When discussing Robert's wife, Beulah, with his wife, he Get more content
