The juxtaposition between the two male characters sets the demarcation between them. Therefore, the comparison between the two characters is used to highlight the theme. With the presence of the blind man, he feels ineffective as a husband. More than this, however, the real conflict is with himself. A heart could go crazy because of jealousy or envy. Sometimes I’d wake up from one of them, my heart going crazy.” Notice the use of “heart” instead of “mind” which is more suitable with the word “crazy”.

He says, “When I did go to sleep, I had these dreams. Unfortunately, while the wife has time to record stories for Robert, she leaves her husband alone in his own world.The insecurity that the narrator feels makes him jealous of Robert. As the wife reveals during their argument, the man has no friends. My wife and I hardly ever went to bed at the same time.” The narrator gets into the habit of smoking marijuana because he longs for the company. He expresses, “Every night I smoked dope and stayed up as long as I could before I fell asleep. This is so because he and the narrator’s wife have managed to communicate for years through tape records while the narrator finds it difficult to have quality time with her. Robert serves as a threat to the narrator. Although it appears that the narrator is too irritated by Robert’s presence, his insecurity is actually what causes his negative feelings. The conflict is personal it is within the character. Expectedly, the conflict revolves around him and the way he responds to the conflict leads to the resolution.Īs the story unfolds, the narrator reveals through his thoughts that the conflict is his own insecurity, which only he can overcome. Narrated in the first person singular, the story is bound to unwind according to the thoughts and feelings of the character. The angle of narration primarily sets out the origin of the conflict. The angle of narration, characterization, and symbolism help to highlight the theme of the story. With the help of a man whose character is totally opposite his, the main character sees the truth about himself and opens up to achieve self-realization. In Raymond Carver’s story titled, “Cathedral,” the main character struggles with an inner conflict which he overcomes through self-awareness and acceptance. Admitting imperfections is usually the way out of the conflict but it is also as difficult as recognizing that the conflict exists. A person struggles with himself if he is afraid to face his faults and weaknesses.

This research will begin with the statement that one conflict that every person encounters is the conflict with himself.

Cathedral by raymond carver 1981