Cathedral Essay

In the story "Cathedral", a blind man comes to visit a man and his wife, and the narrator gains insight into what it truly means to have "sight".
 When the narrator is told by his wife at the beginning of the story, that the blind man is coming, he is not looking forward to the encounter. He is not familiar with talking to blind people, and does not fully understand how to act around him. The wife had worked for the blind man one summer when she needed a job, by reading different works to him. They share many experiences together, through the readings, and After the wife completes her job, at the end of the summer, the blind man asks to touch her face. She lets him, and she later tells the narrator, that it was something that she would never forget.
After she quits her job with the blind man (due to the fact that her husband at that time, is an officer, and has to move around a lot), they keep in touch by sending tapes to each other. Although several years pass between their encounters, they still keep each other informed of the events of their own lives. The wife shared the fact that after she left, she got very lonely and attempted suicide, and that she and the officer had then separated and divorced. She shared the fact that she had met the narrator, and that she felt much better, when she was around him. Later, she tells the blind man that she and the narrator are married, and that she feels happy again.
The blind man shares with her that after she left, a woman named Beulah started. She worked with him for about a year, and then they were married. He also shared that sadly, Beulah died of cancer, and now he was alone again. When the wife receives this tape, she immediately sends a request for him to come visit her, so that they can finally see each other, and so that the blind man can finally meet the narrator, who the wife has told him so much about.
When the blind man arrives, the narrator does not exactly know how to approach the situation. He does not have much experience with blind people, so to him, it was a very awkward situation. They eat dinner, not discussing anything at all, as they are absorbed in their food, and afterward, they sit and talk about how their lives have changed, as they smoke. When the wife falls asleep, the husband and the blind man watch a T.V. special on Cathedrals. As the blind man is hearing the descriptions of the Cathedrals from the husband, he asks for a pencil and paper, to draw the structures. As the husband thinks that it is absurd at first, when the blind man tells him to close his eyes,he does. As the blind man is guiding his hand around the paper, the narrator realizes that even though the man is blind, he has the ability to see beyond many people's ideas, and although the picture may not actually resemble a cathedral in the end, the cathedral in their minds is undoubtedly clear.
The narrator was not looking forward to the blind man's visit, because he was not familiar with dealing with blind people.He did not know what he should (or should not discuss), and he did not know what exactly to expect from his visit, due to the fact that it was his wife's friend who was visiting.
It is hard to simply read about the experiences the narrator's wife had, when the blind man, Robert, had been touching (or "seeing") her face, because we did not have that same experience, and therefore it is hard for us to imagine this encounter. Through poetry, she is able to express her true self in words. In this way, even though Robert is blind, he is still able to see people through other means than just his eyes. They both also see with their minds and hearts. When she attempted suicide, her husband at that time, the officer, was never home to be with her, and she felt completely alone. Just as any human being, she felt the desire to "be seen", and noticed by someone else, especially by those we love. As humans, we are always seeking praise and approval from others. We all need to fill that space with approval and love, because with it, we feel that we are all wanted and loved by the people around us.  
Also, by receiving another's friend, we are showing that person how much we care about their happiness. By doing this, we are showing the person that we understand how important this friend is to them, and that by receiving and accepting the people that they deeply care about, we are demonstrating how much we care about the things that are most important to them.