Raymond Carver: The Cathedral
Interpretative theories suggest that a person's response to a text depends on various factors and each person might respond differently based on those factors. Stanley Fish is of the view that people respond to a text in the light of their own experiences. This theory uses the term "interpretive communities" to explain a person's response to a given piece of text. According to Stanley, interpretive community is actually "point of view or way of organizing experience that share[s] individuals" (Naturally 141). Within this community, all readers should have similar response to a text while those outside this community might have a different opinion. However within one interpretive community "...both texts and readers lose the independence that would be necessary for either of them to claim the honor of being the source of interpretive authority" (Fish, Naturally 142).Fish is of the view that the room for interpretation exists in the gaps found within the text. However where these gaps exist might again be dependent on a person's own beliefs and Interpretive strategy. T. S. Kuhn called this the priority of paradigms: [I]f the "textual signs" do not announce their shape but appear in a variety of shapes according to the diff
I feel that Fish should have touched upon the subject of author's influence. But he feels that our interpretation is solely a result of our own thinking and experiences and doesn't have much to do with author's intent. But there are occasions or certain stories where author's hand in directing our interpretation can be clearly felt as in the case of the Cathedral. When the husband sees the blind man, he informs us: "And his being blind bothered me. He goes to say some really meaningless and rather naive things to the blind man such as "I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind" or "I remembered reading somewhere that the blind didn't smoke" (190-191). The husband's ignorance is repeatedly touched upon to highlight author's belief that it is not the blind man who cannot see but the husband whose soul lacks accommodation power. One kind of blindness is obvious while the other resides within the soul that needs to be treated and taken care of too. I can interpret it in this way because I feel most of us are uncomfortable around people who appear different in some way especially people with disabilities. (7)When we apply this theory to The Cathedral by Raymond Carver, we realize that often the interpretation has a lot to do with what a person has experienced himself or feels he can identify with. I do accept that interpretation originates from reader's own understanding of the text but a perceptive reader is always quick to spot author's intent and the various devices by means of which he makes his intent clear. This is further stressed upon in the last few lines when the husband realizes that he was finally liberated. The author forces us to reexamine our definition of a disability. His freedom is freedom from the system and from traditional ways of thinking and seeing. There are definitely instances where readers have read Cathedral as a story of a jealous husband who doesn't like the blind man because he is a friend of his wife's.
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Acceptance Essays
