Cathedral

I enjoyed reading this story because it was pretty light in content. There was nothing too complex about what it was trying to get the reader. I think that the author simply was trying to teach the reader not to fear the unknown. In the start of the story it was almost funny how fearful the husband was of a man simply because he was blind man, it was almost as if he thought he could catch Robert’s blindness.  I also wonder if the husband felt challenged by Robert, like maybe Robert was here to steal his wife or something. Another interesting was how alcohol and drugs were able to connect the group; it was almost as if they were at a college party or something. Soberly the situation was kind of awkward but after drinking and smoking they seemed like old friends.

The one question I had throughout most of reading this story was when is this story was taking place? After the first page I figured it might have been pre 1950 because the husband was so uncomfortable with a blind man coming to stay with them. After reading more I figured it has to be sometime during the 1960s because I know that color TV’s came out when my dad was a kid. Realizing that that this story was supposed to take place more recently than I first thought made it even more shocking how much the husband feared Robert for being blind. I would have thought there would be more tolerance than that in the 60s.