Perceptual Failings and the Divine Epiphany in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”

S. Mangaiyarkarasi, T Githika.
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Abstract

Disability Studies is an academic discipline which focuses on the meaning, nature and consequences of disability. The term is used to refer to individual functioning including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness and various types of chronic diseases. This paper focuses on blindness as not simply a deficit rather a gifted intellect and someone with great insight in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”. In this short story, the character Robert’s blindness has given the narrator an access to beauty and meaning that he has never known before. The narrator has his own stereotypic image of the blind people only from the movies and he had no real life encounters which all through his life made him feel that they have their own stereotypes. He ultimately expands his own perception by inhabiting Robert’s perspective where he finds something more meaningful and deeper within his own self.  The verbal description of the narrator fails to portray the Cathedral to Robert whereas the view of the blind Robert opens the eyes of the narrator. It is the perceptual failings of the narrator that make him unable to understand other people’s feelings and fails to find meaning or joy in his life. It is through the blind man he attains Epiphany, which is not just about attaining insight but a divine realization. Literal blindness is far more less than the emotional blindness and thus this paper flashes that blindness is in the eyes and not in the mind.   
雷蒙德·卡弗《大教堂》中的感性缺失与神性顿悟
残疾研究是一门关注残疾的意义、性质和后果的学科。该术语用于指个体功能障碍,包括身体障碍、感觉障碍、认知障碍、智力障碍、精神疾病和各种慢性疾病。本文关注的是,在雷蒙德·卡弗的《大教堂》中,失明不仅仅是一种缺陷,而是一种天才的智力和具有伟大洞察力的人。在这个短篇故事中,罗伯特的失明给了叙述者一个他从未知道的美和意义的途径。叙述者只从电影中对盲人有自己的刻板印象,他没有真正的生活经历,这些经历让他觉得盲人有自己的刻板印象。他最终通过寓居罗伯特的视角扩展了自己的感知,在那里他发现了自己内在更有意义、更深刻的东西。叙述者的语言描述没能把大教堂描绘给罗伯特而盲人罗伯特的观点打开了叙述者的眼睛。正是叙述者在感知上的缺陷,使他无法理解他人的感受,无法在自己的生活中找到意义和快乐。通过盲人,他获得了顿悟,这不仅仅是关于获得洞察力,而是一种神圣的认识。文字上的盲目性远不如情感上的盲目性,因此这篇文章表明,盲目性是在眼睛上,而不是在思想上。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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