The Influence of The Blind Man in The Cathedral Essay Sample

The Cathedral was an amazing book. Well, it must be from the most talked-about character, the blind man. The blind brought a spark back into the couple’s life. The Cathedral character seemed like they had a usual routine that the wife got tired of. The book is an example of what goes on sometimes in people’s everyday life. The husband seemed to be jealous of the blind man. The reason the Cathedral is a good book is that the husband believed his wife was in love with the blind man, the husband started off being jealous, and the husband ended up being friendly to the blind man. 

Firstly, the husband believes his wife fell in love with the blind man because she changed. She started writing poems, smoking, and paying attention to the blind man. The wife throughout the story catered to the blind man. She read books to him, feed him, and comforted him.  The husband also stated his wife became good friends with the blind man based on what his wife has said. The husband paid attention to his wife and felt as if she was falling in love with the blind man because she allowed the blind man to rub his fingers through her face and touch her neck. For example, the author states “She told me he ran his over every part of the face, her nose, --even her neck”. In the wife’s poems, she talked about how she felt when the blind man touched her nose. The blind man had the wife feeling a certain way. From the story, she started to have feelings for the man.

Secondly, the husband seemed jealous based on how he micromanaged the interactions between his wife and the blind man. The encounter with his wife and the blind man touching her face is enough to set a spouse off. However, the husband did not have proof of his allegations. The husband also talked about how his wife spent a lot of time with the blind man and how that made him feel. The husband comes off as immature because the wife was hired to care for the blind man and the husband believes she’s having an affair based on her caring for the man. That comes ridiculously. The husband also got jealous about the blind man and his wife making and sending each other tapes. The tapes could’ve been innocent but the fact that his wife was sending them to another man caused him to be jealous. The husband thought his wife shared too much information about her personal life with the blind. For instance, the author wrote,” She told him everything, so it seemed”. The husband also comes off as if he does not trust his wife because he wanted to hear the tapes and to see what they were talking about.  In another example, the author wrote, “From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude – “. The tape was interrupted by a knock at the door which happened to be the blind man. The blind man was moving in. The husband seemed as if he had enough and was starting to get jealous.  As the story continues the husband comes off as if he hates seeing his wife care for another man. However, the person she is caring for is the person that needed a caregiver.

Lastly, the husband and the blind man became cordial. The blind man often showed interest in getting to know the husband. For example, the husband and the blind man would smoke and talk. The blind man even showed the husband how it feels to be blind. By doing that he asked the husband to close his eyes and how he sees nothing but darkness. The husband and the blind man had conversations about the different perspectives of life. The husband was able to see things while the blind man could not, the blind man appreciated life more and even the wife. The husband seems to start appreciating life and his wife once the blind man moved into their home. The blind man made a difference in their home. The book was great because it has several different lessons. The main lesson was to always appreciate life because you never know what others may go through. Secondly, the book was great because the wife started to have feelings for the blind man because he started to have a spark and it seemed as if he appreciated her more than her husband. At the end of the store, her husband seemed to get along with the blind man.

Lastly, the Cathedral is the best book because it shows the jealousy that comes with immaturity. the husband believed his wife was in love with the blind man, the husband started off being jealous, and the husband ended up being friendly to the blind man. The book gives you a view of how jealousy can happen in different ways. The husband believed his wife was in love with the blind man due to her writing poems about him. He also, the husband became jealous by the time the blind man moved into the house. Lastly, the blind man and the husband became cordial. The husband eventually was open to talking to the blind man and put his feelings aside.

Works Cited

Carver, Raymond. American Literature, Cathedral, 2021

Sparknotes, SparkNotes, https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/cathedral/.