View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the narrator’s response when the blind man asks if he likes his work?

2. What does the blind man instruct the narrator to do after he’s almost completed the drawing of the cathedral?

3. On the television show about the Church, the narrator describes a famous cathedral shown in what city?

4. How long ago does the narrator say his wife offered to let him listen to a tape from the blind man in the beginning of the story?

5. What does the narrator give as a response to the narrator’s question of whether he was going to stay with his work?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How are the narrator’s perceptions of race illustrated in “Cathedral”?

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

5. Where does the rising action take place in “Cathedral”?

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

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

8. What does the narrator offer to Robert after his wife passes out? How does Robert respond?

9. What is signified by the narrator’s final lines in the story?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the Middle Ages and the erection of cathedrals during this historical period. Where are the cathedrals in the story (on television) principally located? Why? How are these structures described?

Essay Topic 2

Define “foreshadowing” in narrative literature and discuss examples of foreshadowing in “Cathedral.” How is the topic of religion foreshadowed in the dinner scene and later explored in the ending of the story? What else does the author foreshadow? What purpose does this example serve in the narrative? Does it build suspense? Does it create humor?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 888 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample