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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. For how many years were the blind man and his wife married before her health went rapidly in decline?

2. What kind of paper does the blind man ask the narrator to go get when they are talking late at night?

3. How is the narrator’s viewpoint of blind people characterized in the beginning of the story?

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

5. The narrator says in the beginning of the story that the last time his wife saw the blind man was when she worked for him in what city?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does the narrator discuss with Robert after his arrival in the story?

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

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

5. What does the narrator ask Robert regarding cathedrals in the story? Why? How does Robert respond?

6. What drives the narrative plot of “Cathedral”? What effect does this have on the plot’s structure?

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

8. How does the narrator’s wife respond to the marijuana downstairs when she returns?

9. What conversation does the narrator have with Robert regarding alcohol after Robert’s arrival?

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

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Raymond Carver’s role in the minimalist movement in literature during the 1980s. What influenced this movement? Who were Carver’s influences as a writer? How is minimalism illustrated in “Cathedral”?

(see the answer keys)

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