Contrasting Imagery with Symbolism Essay

The allegory The Cathedral by Raymond Carver is a story of variation of a human characters vitality from depression and carelessness to belief and diversity. A cathedral is a symbol of faith, transmutation, creativity and vividness and is therefore a substantial comp binglent of Carvers story. The process of drawing it reverses the climax of the story when the author uses earnest imagery to make out the whole kit and caboodle of the drawing that the husband is creating. Imagery and symbolism are greatly used in this story, only when in genuinely different ways to provide very different effects. Moreover, the cathedral is connected to the representation of the wile man as a preacher and a teacher. The symbolism of the cathedral in the story makes one believe in the future and optimism.A cathedral symbolizes religious belief, and the TV show that the two men watch leads to an important question. The blind man asks the husband to describe to him the image of a cathedral. T he husband is unable to successfully compose an accurate description because he doesnt understand the moment and the symbolism of the building. He is not a man of religion, and he is watching the show only because he has nothing else to do. Dont ask me why this is,(245) he says. Compelled to think virtually the purpose of cathedrals, the narrator begins to realize that they symbolize the struggle that people endeavored to build those structures. What would make people do such a thing? Belief and religion sometimes give direction and meaning to peoples lives. The effort required to build a cathedral becomes an outburst of creativity. The inability of the husband to understand the purpose of cathedrals shows that he lacks creativity, and his life is meaningless and not fulfilling.By making the husband draw a cathedral together with him, the blind man teaches him about the importance of the cathedrals and the moment of believing in something. The husband experiences something that h e has never thought would happen to him, and it makes him aware of the diversity of life. Before Robert came, the husband was alone, and his wife says that he didnt consider other friends. Never thought anything the like this could happen inyour lifetime, did you, bub? asks Robert and there is no answer. The narrators loneliness caused by urban life has become his style of living, and when he has to communicate with others and to role ideas he becomes anxious. The detachment makes him pessimistic and closed-minded.The narrators anxiety disappears as the story progresses, and when he begins to draw he is more relaxed and in a creative mood. The first thing that he thinks of is his house I drew a box that looked like my house(247). The transformation of the house into a cathedral is a very sinewy image. His home and himself derive the symbolism of a cathedral. And Whats a cathedral without people?(247). Characterized as a social place where people meet, the cathedral becomes symbo l of the husbands ability to overcome his loneliness and his inability to communicate.The author uses suddenly uses intense imagery in the story that he hasnt used before, this is to emphasize the importance of the moment. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand flowed over the paper. It was like nothing that I wealthy person ever felt before.(247) This marks the climax of the story as well as the turning point in the thoughts and beliefs of the husband. Nevertheless, the husband doesnt change his life by himself. It seems that the blind man is showing the husband how to draw and not the opposite. Robert is in control, but the narrator does not oppose that experience. He has been waiting for something like this to happen, and he is happy that it happened. The process of drawing a cathedral together with the blind man creates the symbolism of a cathedral and becomes a religious experience, which symbolizes the husbands conversion his spiritual epiphany from good to bad. He is taught the meaning of value and virtue he is happy that he encountered Robert.The symbolism of the cathedral is also directly connected to the blind man. His question if the husband is a religious person is almost rhetorical because he already knows that he isnt. The blind man is a very powerful person because his blindness has made his other senses different than ours in a wonderful way. He sees things from a special perspective, and becomes a person who can share a different angle toward wisdom, a different entrancetoward knowledge. For the husband, Robert comes as nobody, and he becomes somebody. He is like a preacher who opens your mind and gives a meaning to life. The blind man is a teacher, and his image is connected to the spiritual image of a cathedral.The image of a cathedral is an image of something enormously strong, stable and at the same time beautiful and creatively artistic. The author uses imagery not only to create a mental portrait of the physical surroundings of the sto ry, but also to breath life into the symbolism of the images that are created. The small amount of imagery that is used is very significant in that the imagery that is used, brings across very strong and clear pictures of meaning and thought. The symbolism that is in this story is enormous. It can be found everywhere. It is used in contrast with imagery to give great meaning to the story that otherwise wouldnt have been clear.