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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. After showing a cathedral in Portugal, the television show next travels to show a cathedral where?

2. How long ago does the narrator’s wife say she and her husband bought their sofa?

3. Regarding the view from the train, the narrator says, “going to New York, you should sit” where on the train?

4. When the narrator’s wife first contacted the blind man after working for him, she called him from what facility?

5. What does the blind man ask the narrator about the paintings on the walls of the church in the television show?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. From what narrative perspective is the story told? How does this narrative style affect the reader?

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

7. How does the reader gain insight into the narrator’s prejudices against blindness in the story?

8. Where in the story do you see the first elements of transformation in the protagonist?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the roles and expectations of gender as depicted in “Cathedral.” How are the traditional roles and expectations of women reflected in the narrative? How does the narrator perceive “masculinity”? What role do you think gender plays in the story?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss the narrator as the protagonist of “Cathedral.” Approximately how old would you say the narrator is? What is his race and ethnicity? Where do you think the narrator works, based on the text?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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