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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. In what year was “Cathedral” chosen to appear in The Best American Short Stories?

2. How does the narrator feel about the blind man’s visit in the beginning of the story?

3. What was the last part of the blind man’s tape that the narrator heard when his wife played it for him?

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

5. When the blind man smokes his second hit of marijuana, the narrator says, “It was like he’d been doing this since he was” how old?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe his experience in the final lines of the story?

2. What does the blind man suggest when he feels the drawing is complete? How does the narrator respond?

3. How is the theme of alienation illustrated through the protagonist in the story?

4. Why does the narrator say the blind man is coming to visit in the beginning of the story?

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

6. How is the theme of transformation illustrated through the narrator’s wife in the story? When did her “transformation” take place with the blind man?

7. How did the narrator’s wife come to know the blind man? How is this information revealed in the story?

8. What are the narrator’s thoughts after his wife falls asleep, leaving him alone with Robert?

9. Which of the characters in the story stands out from the theme of alienation? Why?

10. Where in “Cathedral” does the climax of the narrative take place?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the important expository elements established in the first two to three pages of “Cathedral.” Why is it important for the reader to understand the history of the narrator’s wife and her friendship with the blind man? How does this information serve the plot?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of isolation and alienation as applied to the protagonist of “Cathedral.” In what ways does the narrator describe a life that is isolated from those around him? How is this illustrated in the “after-dinner” scene in the living room?

Essay Topic 3

Examine and discuss correlations between the biography of Raymond Carver and the narrative of “Cathedral.” In what ways do you think Carver resembles the narrator of the story? How is alcohol a theme in Carver’s life and in the story? How does the epiphany in the story relate to Carver?

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