Background of the author
Class Discussion Questions:
1. Who is the narrator of this story? Explain how you know. What motivates the narrator to tell this story in the first place?
2. How does the seeing man first try to help the blind man to "see" a cathedral? How do they later learn to "see" one together?
3. Why does the seeing man keep his eyes closed at the end of the story? Give an elaborate answer to explain your thinking.
4. Describing the style of writing that Carver helped develop, John Barth came up with "Post-Alcoholic Blue-Collar Minimalist Hyperrealism." Explain this category one word at a time. What is the significance of such an extended term, with so many different descriptors?
5. What is minimalism? How does a story like "Cathedral" manage to mean so much without saying very much?
