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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. What instruction does the blind man give to the narrator as he draws the cathedral in the story?

2. What are the first words that the blind man says to the narrator when he arrives?

3. What kind of meat does the narrator’s wife serve for dinner in the story?

4. The narrator says of the blind man’s employment that most recently he and his wife had had what kind of distributorship?

5. How did the narrator’s wife maintain contact with the blind man since they last saw one another in person?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Why does the narrator apologize to Robert during their discussion after his wife’s fallen asleep?

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

6. How is the post-dinner conversation described by the narrator? What prompts him to turn on the television?

7. What is the central imagery employed in the story? How is it employed?

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

9. How does the narrator characterize his usual evenings in the story? What does this indicate about his character?

10. What role does alcoholism play in “Cathedral”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the marriage of the narrator and his wife and the marriage of Robert and Beulah as seen in the text. How are these relationships similar? How do they differ?

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 the plot structure of “Cathedral.”How “traditional” do you find the plot structure of the story to be? What about the story’s style makes it more difficult to determine the elements of plot? What does the author employ in order to build suspense in the narrative?

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