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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the narrator’s response when the blind man asks if he likes his work?
(a) I didn’t
(b) I was growing to love it
(c) I despised it
(d) I loved it

2. How does the narrator say he felt about their old sofa (that they replaced) when the blind man arrives?
(a) I still remember the day I bought it
(b) I’d liked that old sofa
(c) I found it so uncomfortable
(d) I hated that crummy sofa

3. What does the blind man say “never ends” in the story?
(a) Pride
(b) Sorrow
(c) Learning
(d) Fantasy

4. What color are the narrator’s wife’s robe and slippers?
(a) Pink
(b) Green
(c) Blue
(d) Yellow

5. When the blind man appears to snooze during his conversation with the narrator, the narrator assumes that perhaps he’s imagining himself where?
(a) Spain
(b) Portugal
(c) Italy
(d) Greece

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does the narrator’s wife fall asleep after they’ve smoked marijuana?

2. What do the narrator and his wife offer the blind man as they smoke marijuana in the story?

3. Where was Raymond Carver born?

4. What drink does the blind man ask for when the narrator offers him one after his arrival?

5. What does the narrator do when the blind man says after the drawing is complete, “Take a look. What do you think?”

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe Robert’s eyes in the story?

2. What can the reader discern of the narrator’s jealousy through the exposition in the beginning of the story?

3. How does the narrator describe his wife’s last in-person meeting with the blind man?

4. When and where was “Cathedral” first published? What awards was it nominated for?

5. How does the author describe his wife’s poetry in “Cathedral”?

6. How many drinks do the narrator, his wife, and Robert have before dinner? What do they discuss?

7. What do the narrator and Robert say in their discussion of religion in the story?

8. What is symbolized through the television set in the story?

9. What is the narrator’s prayer before dinner? How is the dinner described by the narrator?

10. How are the characters in “Cathedral” representative of Raymond Carver’s style?

(see the answer keys)

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