What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye

Virginia Woolf said, "Isn't it odd how much more one sees in a photograph than in real life?" This line makes me recall of something written in the book The Little Prince -- "What is essential is invisible to the eye." This somehow tells us that reality can be very secretive and it does not always show the truth. To connect it with what Virginia Woolf quoted, in photographs, there may be certain substances that we can see that is invisible in reality. We may see something in photographs that can be beyond our senses. And just like in photographs, short stories also show more than that of the real life as what William Boyd said. If short stories only works on us well and if we can appreciate it more, it can show us something more than what we can see in real life -- something beyond the texts written in the stories we read. And that, makes short stories very interesting.

In the short story Cathedral written by Raymond Carver, it manifests the characteristics of an interesting short story. The story has shown me a view of life which I wouldn't normally do if I'd put in the same situation. If I were to be the husband in the story, I wouldn't think of inviting a blind man to play bowling with me because it would only hurt him. He couldn't play and enjoy which is contrary to what a normal person would feel. Another thing that I wouldn't do is turning on a television if I'm with a blind man. For me, it would be very insulting and hurtful to the blind man's part. At least the husband could've just turned on the radio instead because it would be a lot better. Lastly, in the last part of the story, it was amazing to thin kof a blind man appreciating something he can't even see. Surely, some people whether be blind or not can't even appreciate a Cathedral. But knowing that a blind person like Robert would appreciate what is invisible to him is a wonder.

I've never had an encounter with a real blind person really. Before I've read the short story Cathedral, I would've acted the same way as what the wife in the story did. She was so careful and so protective of Robert. She didn't realize that what she did made Robert a lot more incapable of some things. After I read the story and after Miss Rose's deep explanation, I realized that what the husband did was necessary so the blind man would feel normal like other people. And I learned that we should never question the capabilities of blind people because as I've heard from somewhere, if a person lost one of his senses, his other senses would function a lot better. In conclusion, Cathedral of Raymond Carver is like a photograph which has shown more than what can be read in its text. For me, it has given more meaning than what the real life can offer. It gave learnings about aspects of life that we normally wouldn't see and do.