The short story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver takes the reader on a journey of understanding
a blind man once nursed by the wife of the story’s narrator, referred to in the story as, the husband. The
final line, “It’s really something”, although seemingly non-descript of everything that occurs in the story,
actually is extremely meaningful and captures the entire theme of the story. Through analysis of the
character relationships the realization that the husband, the wife and Robert, the blind man are actually
three parts of the same person becomes a major theme of the story although the three characters work
against one another for the majority of the story. Diagnosing the protagonist and antagonist characters
allows the reader to carefully analyze a deeper meaning within the story, and answers the question as to
why the ending gives such an emotional response.
In order to fully explore the ideas of the protagonist and the antagonist we first must identify
the three main characters and their roles within “Cathedral”. Robert, the wife and the husband each
