Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral - 2364 Words

Pastor Bonhoeffer once said, â€Å"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging other’s, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.† The way we treat people reflects on ourselves. The way the world judges and condemns each other is very true and an everyday reality for most. The same could be said about people who are limited by one or more of their six senses and are judged by the majority of the population who are not limited and make preconceived notions about these limitations which can bind them. Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† explores many literary devices that reveal the pre conceived perception towards people with physical limitations without understanding the individual first, which is still a problem today. The protagonist, the narrator is closed minded and lacks communication with his wife, which clearly exhibits the distance and troubles in their relationship. The narrator is not happy with having the blind man, Robert, who he sees as a stranger over in his home which stirs up more trouble with his wife. ‘â€Å"You don’t have any friends, she said. Period, she said, â€Å"goddamn it, his wife’s just died! Don’t you understand that? The man’s lost his wife†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Carver 107). The wife is obviously mad with her husband who doesn’t understand the close relationship she has with Robert, which is a mutual understanding. Throughout their limited conversation the narrator asks about Roberts wife who has justShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1696 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom, or trying to bury alive. Cathedral, written by Raymond Carver, takes place in the early 1980’s. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981. Carver slightly revised the story and re-released it in 1983. At a time when the blue collar working class lived paycheck to paycheck, working hard for newfound luxuries such as color television, this short story is humorous and eye-opening for the reader. For adults ranging from thirty to forty years old, the 1980’s were possibly a ghostly, hauntingRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1426 Words   |  6 PagesCharacter Analysis in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†: The Narrator Literature has the potential to act as a mirror by presenting people’s lived experiences, expectations, and perceptions through characters. Such is what can be deciphered through the analysis of different characters in Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral.† This paper focuses on the narrator of the story portrayed by the author as blind, which is used metaphorically not to imply physical blindness, but the inability to have reasonedRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1006 Words   |  5 Pages Gabrielle Sobolewski English 200 Professor Ruth Jennison 11/12/15 The short story â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver is told from the perspective of a first-person narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator is self-absorbed in his own thoughts and emotions and fails in his willingness to overlook personal insecurities in order to accommodate others’ discomfort, i.e. predominantly his wife and the blind man. In general, the story lacks figurative language and is told in short, directRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 970 Words   |  4 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s short story, â€Å"Cathedral†, we meet the character who is never named, and who is known as the narrator to us. Although the narrator’s character changed towards the end, and we don’t really learn much after the change of his personality, it is still a gradual change that took place. The narrator’s attitude is very important in the story because it revolves around him and the way he views things. This short story is about a m an who is married to a woman, and this woman has been friendsRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1097 Words   |  5 PagesSeptember 2015 Cathedral by Raymond Carver In this short story by Raymond Carver begins with a man whose wife invited a good friend over named Robert and is blind. Before Roberts Arrival, the wife’s husband, whose name is Bub, does not know what to make out of his wife’s good friend Robert coming over to their house. Carver utilizes a story of a blind man who changes Bub’s outlook in life. Through the narrators changing character, theme of loneliness and jealousy, and the cathedral being a symbolRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 943 Words   |  4 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†, the short story is told by a character within the story. The first-person point of view gives us a transparent visual of an important time in the narrators’ life. The narrator, who is â€Å"un-named† in the beginning of the story, uses blunt, flawless and a particular choice of words. This gives us as the reader a deeper connection with the narrator. The narrator begins this story by taking us through the changes he go through with the uneasy feeling of having a blind-manRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s The Cathedral 863 Words   |  4 Pages One of the Raymond Carver story where we can find a lot of religion symbols; it is â€Å"Cathedral.† The story develops an ironic situation in which a blind man teaches a sighted man to truly â€Å"see† for the first time. Near the end of the story, Carver has these two characters work together on a drawing of a cathedral, which serves as the symbolic heart of the story. The cathedral represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The narrator’s drawingRead MoreAn Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1794 Words   |  8 Pages A Cynics Enlightenment Raymond Carver’s short-story Cathedral is outwardly about a pessimistic man, whose wife’s blind visitor named Robert changes the narrators predisposing perception of the world and awakes a new view on life in the process. But inwardly, the story is about the desperate need for connection between these three characters, which isn’t feasible do to the emotional-detachment by the narrator. In the beginning, the narrator is hindered by his prejudices which doesn t allow himRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1524 Words   |  7 PagesAs if someone has unlocked his prison cell to liberate him of his stereotypical point of view. The protagonist of Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† was an individual whose stagnant mind has blind him from truly seeing the aspects and characteristics of people around him. Before meeting his wife’s blind friend whose name is Robert, the protagonist perceives reality with a stereotypical mind-set shaped by m isleading information from movies. Hence, he make judgement about other people without ever settingRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1340 Words   |  6 PagesRaymond Carver’s characters were considered to be very much like him: â€Å"’on the edge: of poverty, alcoholic self-destruction, loneliness† (Mays 32). His short story â€Å"Cathedral† is about a young couple, who have a visitor coming to stay with them. This visitor, Robert, is the wife’s friend, and he is blind. The narrator, the husband, has never met someone who is blind, was bothered by that. To him, being blind meant constantly needing help from others. His depiction of blindness was what he has seen

Analysis Of The Film Gringos At The Gate - 1492 Words

Latin Identity The film Gringos at the Gate is a documentary about the interesting and dynamic relationship between the United States and Mexico. It uses the sport of soccer, futbol, to highlight the patriotism each country has for their respective country. The director also highlights the issue of identity for Mexican Americans. Many are conflicted with the idea of not knowing who they are supposed to (or in some cases allowed to) support. In this class we spoke about how through history Latin America has struggled with identity. As seen in Jake Silverstein’s article, â€Å"Grand Opening Ronald McDonald conquers New Spain†, and Gringos at the Gate, the interaction between two countries in Latin America can lead conflict in deciding one’s†¦show more content†¦Soccer gives a kid the opportunity to bring money to their family if they are good enough. The film shows the historical significance of soccer as well. It shows how the Europeans came and showed Me xico soccer and it attempts to argue that the feelings from the Mexican-American War are reignited when the two sides play . Gringos at the Gate explores the theme of patriotism through the soccer rivalry. An example of this is when the United States plays America in the Estadio Azteca for a world cup qualifier match . Mexico wins the match and immediately afterwards has an over the top celebration. They have marches in the streets proclaiming their pride and hazing anyone who seems like they do not support Mexico. As Juliette Levy points out in the film Mexicans take the winning and losing much more passionately . If Mexico wins it’s all about how great they are and how much better they are than anyone else, but if they lose the all blame shifts towards the white people. Every opportunity against the Americans seems to be a way to prove oneself. Up to the point of the film being made America had never one in Mexico. The extremely rowdy fans make it almost impossible to commu nicate for the opposing side and makes them concentrate on the crowd rather than the game. Whenever the game between the two countries is played in America, America tries its hardest to put it as far away from Mexico as possible, but even then American fans are outnumbered. Even though Mexico

Thoreau’s Views on Simplicity Free Essays

Throughout history, a person’s, or their predecessors’, financial well-being determined their social standing. In the Roman Empire, if you were born a slave, you had to crawl your way to the top, and even then, you could never reach the status of a free person. You simply were not worth as much. We will write a custom essay sample on Thoreau’s Views on Simplicity or any similar topic only for you Order Now In India, the Hindu caste system is largely based on your ancestors’ income. If your parents were born as untouchables, you could never become anything more, doomed to a life of poverty and cleaning out sewers.Even into the supposed ‘modern age’, the mid-1800’s to today’s times, there are definite lines in relation to how high one can rise into society with a certain economical status, and that dictates much of the workings of the world. In Walden, one of Thoreau’s essays in the book is titled â€Å"Economy†. In it, he discusses the money spent on the purchases for his house, and he parallels these purchases with insights into monetary value applies to life situations. Thoreau’s views of life, riches and poverty, and pay are enhanced by his reflections on life and society’s expectations of man. On the very first page of Walden, Thoreau expresses that many people live falsely, and that he has not yet met one person who has lived his life to the fullest and explored every option. Later on in the book, he also ascribes living falsely with having too many things that weigh you down, and that encumber your chances of truly living. He challenges that he would like to see people dragging every single object they own down the road, including the house and the land on which they live. â€Å"How many a poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered†¦ reeping down the road of life, pushing before [them] a barn seventy-five feet by forty. .. and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and wood-lot! † (Walden, pp. 2) Thoreau illustrates that no one needs all of the things they have, even if it shows their own wealth, and that it hinders one from living sincerely. To live sincerely, Thoreau says, one must take time to do as he did, and he suggests that every young person follow in his steps and live simply, out in the woods.He kept a list of all his expenses, which were kept surprisingly spare, because he believed that having less was commendable. Robert Richardson, in his essay for the Smithsonian Magazine, wrote that â€Å"[in] his writings, and in Walden above all, Thoreau forged a thought-out way of life, a philosophy that insists that the individual turn not to the state, not to the gods, not to society, or even to history for a guide to life, but to nature and the self. † Mr.Richardson shows clearly that Thoreau’s philosophy of life was about living simply, without social encumbrances. The book also shows some revealing sections on poverty and wealth. â€Å"In this sense, Walden was directed toward the poor in spirit, whether they were like the impoverished and over-worked Irish laborers with whom Thoreau came in contact or those ‘seemingly wealthy’ who had ‘forged their own golden or silver fetters’. † (The Economic Design, pp. 87-588) In Walden, Thoreau calls the people with their wealth, presumably the opposite of himself, â€Å"the most terribly impoverished class of all† (Walden, pp. 10) Although Thoreau does spend more time on the excess of wealth than the actual economy of society (Economy of Living), Thoreau stoutly shows that a surplus of wealth stops you from doing truly enjoyable things- such as being outside and thinking about life- and then he turns to the poor. Early on in Walden, Thoreau shows that being poor means that you are at the mercy of whatever it is you still owe. †¦ some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing†¦ † (Walden, pp. 3) Although he scorns the poor here, earlier he pledges that he is most likely making the most sense to poor students. He believes that they are the ones who will best understand what he is writing about, since they live in perpetual poverty. He praises the intelligent student, but scoffs at the things that they must pay for, sapping away the little money they do have. †¦ while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father into debt irretrievably. † (Walden, pp. 33) In the part of â€Å"Economy† where Thoreau records all of his costs, he is careful to write down also what he thinks of them, saying that some of it was worthless, that some of it was too expensive. He did not simply want to write these down so that people would be able to see these costs; Thoreau wanted to make a point. You may be poor in money or house, but if you spend the money you do have wisely, you will not be poor in life.The cost of learning makes many a young student penniless, and Thoreau strongly disagrees that this is how a student should learn. He was outraged that you had to pay for something like knowledge, and writes in â€Å"Economy† that one does not need all that time in school to learn all that one needs to learn. Thoreau examines the living costs of a Cambridge room, and is astounded that you have to pay for that as well as schooling. According to him, your time should be spent doing what you have to, and your money saved.Saving up one’s money seemed to be very important to Thoreau, and he resolutely believed in using as little money as one could to get somewhere or do something. In Walden, Thoreau rebukes a man who asks him why he does not go and travel, since he seems to be a man who would enjoy doing so. Thoreau challenges the man to finding out who would get to the chosen destination first, he, who would simply walk there, or his companion, who would have to wait for a job to come along, and then to save up enough money to get there and back.It is obvious which one would be better off, Thoreau concludes, and his meaning behind that is that it is important to save up only for what is truly important, and not for small things that you could do without so much of the time. In Walden, Thoreau discusses many crucial issues of both his day and today, including paying for worthless items, the concepts of wealth and poverty, and the options for living your life appropriately. In Thoreau’s day, these were affairs debated daily, and the standards of high living were beginning to come into question.And it wasn’t just then. Even going back to the beginning of time, there have been important questions based on personal and worldwide economy, and it is still important because of what is going on in these times. What Thoreau was saying through his unique philosophy was that in living simpler, and by not using up so much of their precious money, the world will be better and finer, and that people will all have a purer way of life.JSTOR: New England Quarterly. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. . â€Å"Ingentaconnect GIBRAN’S THE PROCESSION IN THE TRANSCENDENTALIST CONTEXT. † Ingentaconnect Home. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. . â€Å"Transcendentalism Essays. † MegaEssays. com – Over 100,000 Essays, Essays and Term Papers Available for Instant Access!! Web. 29 Sept. 2010. . â€Å"Walden Essays. † MegaEssays. com – Over 100,000 Essays, Essays and Term Papers Available for Instant Access!! Web. 29 Sept. 2010. . How to cite Thoreau’s Views on Simplicity, Papers