No relationship is perfect, and many arguments happen with a lack of understanding of what a man is really trying to tell us.
For the story of the Cathedral, the husband (let’s call him Chad) becomes very vague in his actions. This fact isn’t quite different from other men since as what I’ve heard from other people, men are more secretive and cagey that’s why they are being misunderstood by women. As Chad saw Sandra, her wife, together with Robert, the blind man, I observed that he felt jealous. He saw that the two were laughing as they reminisced their good old days together. When the two men were introduced by Sandra, Robert reached out for a handshake and Chad took his hand and led him the way. I think in this scene, he was being accommodating to his visitor.
“Which side of the train did you sit on, by the way?” when Chad asked this question, he didn’t mean to offend a blind man. He just wanted to start a small talk with Robert and that’s all! He wasn’t thinking of anything rude. When Sandra reacted about the question, he was just calm in answering that he just asked – no more, no less.
As Chad was narrating, he admitted that he never had an encounter with a blind man before. This just shows that he wasn’t that expert in handling Robert. He was even amazed that Robert didn’t wear dark glasses and held a cane unlike typical blind persons.
In the dining table, Sandra and Chad took charge of Robert’s food. Chad prayed before they ate. He said, “Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold.” He’s prayer was very odd but I think, that was all that Chad could ask for. When they started eating, he noticed that Robert could handle his food very well. He then realized that Robert was indeed not an ordinary blind man.
The three then moved to the living room. Sandra and Robert started a conversation while Chad just listened. He was waiting for the words: “And then my dear husband came into my life...” But it was never heard. Robert asked Chad about his work and Chad readily answers it, though all through out the conversation his name was only mentioned once. As an excuse, he turned on the television and asked, “Robert, do you have a TV?” Chad never intended to offend him for the second time around.
In the last scene of the short story, when Chad was asked by Robert to describe what Cathedrals looked like, he really was having a hard time. He tried his best to describe it but it was no use. He finally surrendered. And he said, “The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.”
Robert was very considerate. He asked Chad to get a piece of paper and a pen and Chad got them quickly. Robert asked him to close his eyes and draw a Cathedral. Robert found Chad’s hand and they scribbled together. As they were doing this, Chad felt something different. He didn’t stop drawing the details of the Cathedral. Robert told him to open his eyes. But Chad had his eyes closed. He thought he’d keep them that way for a little longer. He thought it was something he ought to do.
Chad’s eyes were still closed. He was in his house. He knew that. But he didn’t feel like he was inside anything. At that moment, Chad felt he was the blind man and Robert was the one guiding him.
“It’s really something,” he said.
Chad acted vaguely in the story. He was unclear and unpredictable. But in the contrary, his character was very important in showing how a blind man should be handled. Although his actions weren’t explained well, it gave a the story a mystery that the readers should unravel.
No comments:
Post a Comment