Cathedra

“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver Study Questions:

1. What details in the story make clear the narrator’s initial attitude toward blind people?

2. What hints does the author give for the narrator’s negative attitude?

3. At what point in the story do the narrator’s preconceptions about blind people start to change and why?

4. What makes the narrator start explaining what he’s seeing on t.v.?

5. What is the point of view of the story and how does the point of view contribute to the effectiveness of the story?

6. At the end, the narrator has an epiphany. Explain it.

7. How would you state the theme of “Cathedral” in your own words?

8. Perhaps what makes Carver’s story most interesting is his STYLE. Try to describe Carver’s writing style and explain what makes it so effective.

9. In a good story, a character does not suddenly become a completely different sort of person. Find details earlier in the story that show the narrator's more sensitive side, making his development more credible and persuasive.

10. Read the chapters on eating together and blindness in How to Read Literature Like a Professor and discuss in relation to the story. Consider choices Carver made in this story.