Life is a learning experience but sometimes the lessons come from people and places we would least expect them to. This was certainly true for the narrator (who remained nameless) in Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral". A visit from an old friend of his wife's is going to take place. The narrator is not looking forward to it one bit. He is uncomfortable with the whole idea of this man. He dislikes the close connection and communication this stranger shares with his wife, but he especially detests the fact that the visitor happens to be blind. "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to"(38) he remarked. The vehemence of his prejudice is surprising. He was prepared to endure what he assumed would be an unpleasant experience, if only to please his wife. He had no idea that this visitor would have a profound effect on how he saw the world, and would change his view of life, of blind people, and of himself from that moment on.
             In the story, the narrator's wife tells him that an old friend of hers, who happens to be blind a blind man, is going to come and stay with them. The blind man was someone his wife had worked for one summer in Seattle and has kept in touch with ever since, exchanging cassette tapes instead of letters over the years to keep up with each others lives. The narrator was a bit jealous of the close connection and continuous communication his wife shared with this man. "Over the years, she put all kinds of stuff on the tapes and sent the tapes off lickety-split....She told him everything, or so it seemed
             to me." (39-40) The closeness his wife shared with this blind man made him a bit uncomfortable, but the fact that he was blind made him even more so.
             The narrator is not looking forward to his arrival and states "I wasn't enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me."(38) The narrato...