Read the following extract carefully and then answer the questions below.
EXTRACT FROM 'CATHEDRAL' BY RAYMOND CARVER
This blind man, an old friend of my wife's, he was on his way to spend the night. His wife had died. So he was visiting the dead wife's relatives in Connecticut. He called my wife from his in-laws'. Arrangements were made. He would come by train, a five-hour trip, and my wife would meet him at the station.
I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.
That summer in Seattle she had needed a job. She didn't have any money. The man she was going to marry at the end of the summer was in officers' training school. He didn't have any money, either. But she was in love with the guy, and he was in love with her, etc. She'd seen something in the paper: HELP WANTED – Reading to Blind Man, and a telephone number. She phoned and went over, was hired on the spot. She'd worked with this blind man all summer. She read stuff to him, case studies, reports, that sort of thing. She helped him organise his little office in the county social-service department. They'd become good friends, my wife and the blind man.
So when the time rolled around, my wife went to the depot to meet him. With nothing to do but wait – sure, I blamed him for that – I was having a drink and watching the TV when I heard the car pull into the drive.
His name was Robert. My wife laughed as she got out of the car and hugged the blind man. The blind man was carrying two large suitcases. My wife took his arm, led him up the steps to the front porch, and then into the house. I came to the door with my drink in my hand.
'I could hear them in the kitchen,' I heard my wife ask if he wanted something, and I heard him say sure, he'd take a cup of tea. Then I heard her say she had some vegetables for him if he wanted, she'd grown them herself. I heard him laugh.
Guiding Question for Text
How does Raymond Carver use the narrator's voice and perspective to shape the reader's understanding of character and theme in this extract?
How does Carver establish the narrator's attitude towards the blind man in the opening paragraphs? Refer closely to specific language choices to support your answer.
Examine the narrative technique of first-person perspective in this extract. How does the narrator's unreliability or limited viewpoint affect the reader's sympathy and understanding?
Analyse how Carver uses contrast — between the narrator's preconceptions and reality — as a structural and thematic device. Consider specific details from the passage.
Comment on Carver's minimalist prose style. How do diction, syntax, and tone contribute to the emotional atmosphere of this extract?