In five pages this paper examines how sight is metaphorically depicted in Raymond Caver's short story 'Cathedral.' Four sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_KTcthdrl.doc
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The story revolves around a common metaphor which never loses its impact. That is, the blind can often see that which the sighted fail to comprehend.
While it is true that metaphors enable individuals to communicate ideas surrounding complex and, or, intimate experiences, it is not altogether true that the experiences are difficult to describe without
the use of metaphoric language because of linguistic and grammatical constraints. The use of metaphor enables the conceptual process of learning and understanding and is not limited by linguistic
or grammatical constraints. Often, there is a jump between metaphor as language and metaphor as reality. There are many different types of metaphors that are used in
common context to the point of losing their distinction of metaphors and being connoted as direct identifiers. The use of the word sight is one such instance. Just
as metaphors are able to assist in the learning process, they are also helpful in experiencing the world. The spacial metaphor is also based on experience and used to
denote a structural and hierarchic relationship to the world that is evident in spatial, cognitive and linguistic realms (Trumbo S8). In Cathedral, the metaphor of sight is used
extensively from both the perspective of the unsighted as one who fails to see the beauty of the world around him to the sightless joy of experiencing worthwhile interactions with
people and places that is seen in the life of the blind man. Cathedral takes place in the home of what must be assumed to be a blue
collar worker whose life revolves around the surrealistic interaction of television and humanity. He is expecting a house guest, a blind man who is a friend of his wifes.