The "Blind" Husband in Carver's Cathedral Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral" is about a woman who has a blind friend who comes to visit her and her husband. Although the husband technically has normal vision, at the beginning of this story he is the one who is "blind." Through the husband's words and actions when dealing with Robert, the blind man, we can see that the husband does not "see" or understand what Robert's blindness means or how it does or does not change him as a human being. At first Robert makes the husband very uncomfortable, because the husband does not know what to say or do in the presence of the blind visitor. As the story progresses, we can see a change in the husband; he seems to be able to see Robert as a person and not just as a blind man. An example showing that the husband is "blind" is found at the beginning of the story, before Robert arrives. When husband and wife talk about Robert, the husband usually refers to him as "this blind man" (1052), and never uses Robert's name or assigns him any human attributes. This shows that the husband does not really see Robert as a person, but simply as a blind man who is different because he has a handicap. When Robert arrives at the couple's home, the husband doesn't know what to say to him. Husband asks stupid questions about the view from the train: "Which side of the train did you sit on?" (1055). The husband knows that Robert cannot see the view, but he asks him these questions anyway. Furthermore, the husband thinks to himself, “I didn't know what else to say” (1055), which clearly indicates that he doesn't know how to relate to Robert. Both of these quotes show that the husband doesn't know what to talk to Robert about because he only sees Robert's handicap, instead of seeing him as a complete human being who has emotions, thoughts, ideas and beliefs. he knows how to communicate with Robert, he doesn't even know how to behave with him. A good example of this, shown after dinner, is when all three go into the living room. This is how the husband describes what happens when they first enter the room: "Robert and my wife were sitting on the sofa.