Seeing Through Touch

Cathedral

This has been one of the most entertaining short stories I’ve ever read. In the beginning I thought that this would be plain Carver story just talking about a blind man. I soon realized that this one would differ from the others.

The characters in the story were very interesting. The wife for example was married to an officer and once tried to commit suicide. “She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of gin.” (Pg. 211) As for the blind guy, he married a black woman, but then she died from cancer. Like the narrator, I wondered how it would be like to marry a blind person, and found myself agreeing with what he said. “Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one.” (Pg. 213) I would say that facial expressions and body language overall can say more than talking. Finally, the narrator doesn’t explain his past, but we get a good idea of his personality. “’ Maybe I could take him bowling…’” (Pg. 212) I thought this remark was very funny although kind of harsh. Other than this, he’s a pothead. “Then I asked him if he wanted to smoke some dope with me. I said I’d just rolled a number. I hadn’t, but I planned to do so in two shakes.” (Pg. 219), “Every night I smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep.” (Pg. 222) I thought that it would be very irresponsible to give a blind guy some weed. What if he freaks out? He might hurt himself pretty badly!

As read the story I reflected upon how it would be to be blind. Everything would be very strange since you never know where you are (exactly) or not knowing how beautiful a sunset is. Furthermore, I wondered whether it would be better to be born blind or to lose your vision halfway through life. In one hand, you wouldn’t know what seeing is like and therefore not miss it. On the other hand, if you lose your sight you would miss seeing, but you would know what colors are like and be able to treasure those vision filled memories. I finally found myself praying and hoping I never lose my sight, ever.