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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the blind man’s facial hair?

2. What word from the story means large and heavy-looking?

3. What happens to the television show as the narrator works on his drawing of a cathedral in the story?

4. When was Raymond Carver’s short story collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? Published?

5. The man that the narrator’s wife was going to marry when she worked for the blind man was in what kind of school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the narrator’s perceptions of Robert’s marriage as his wife describes it in the beginning of the story?

2. How does the narrator describe Robert’s arrival in the story?

3. How does the narrator describe the scene once his wife has gone upstairs after dinner?

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

5. How does the narrator’s wife describe Robert’s marriage prior to his arrival in the story?

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

7. Why does the narrator pity Beulah in the beginning of the story?

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

9. How is the theme of creativity manifested through the protagonist at the end of the story?

10. What is Robert’s response when the narrator offers him marijuana after dinner? What is his experience with the drug?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the character of Robert in “Cathedral.” How old does Robert appear to be? What does the narrator remark about his facial hair? How is Robert dressed? How does Robert differ from the narrator of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the theme of learning in “Cathedral.” What is the importance of learning as an individual? How is this reflected in the story? Do you think that the narrator effectively “learns something” by the end of the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of prejudice as it applies to the narrator in “Cathedral.” How does the narrator demonstrate his prejudice about the blind early in the narrative? How does his prejudice change through the story? How is the narrator’s prejudice in the story developed around ignorance?

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