Character Development and the Development of our Society
            
             Fiction has a purpose no matter if it is a novel, or a short story. The writer has written the story to convey a message to the readers. This message can be seen through the underlining theme of the piece. The writer may use many different elements to project the theme to the reader. Raymond Carver uses character development to portray the theme in his short story "Cathedrals". He shows the reader that the husband's development is actually the development of our society.
             "Cathedrals" is a short story about a man who is meeting his wife's blind friend, Robert. At the beginning of the story the man does not want anything to do with a blind man. He says, "a blind man in his house was not something he looked forward to" (Carver 448). After the arrival of Robert, the man's wife leaves the room to change and her husband is very uncomfortable. He "doesn't want to be left alone with a blind man" (Carver 453). He believes that this man who cannot see is below him. He thinks of Robert as something not quite human, as something "creepy" (Carver 451). This part of the story shows a picture of how our nation was during the 1950's. Our nation was segregated and most white people thought that African Americans were below them. They did not want "those people" to be any where near them. To be around an African American was almost the equivalent to committing a grave sin.
             As the story progresses the husband's attitude towards Robert start to change. He starts to see Robert as a human not just a blind man. He starts to talk to Robert about the program he is watching on television and actually "enjoys the company" Robert gives him (Carver 455). The husband starts to draw a picture of the cathedral that is on the television, so that Robert can get an idea of what the cathedral looks like. The...