![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Likewise, the husband in “Cathedral” shares similar feelings by revealing his reservations about the blind man, Robert, coming to visit. Sammy’s name for the leader of the girls, “ Queenie,” also shows that he does not take them seriously. Sammy, after the girls enter the store, sarcastically asks the following question: “o you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?” (Updike 15). The group of girls in “ A&P” and Robert, the blind man, in “Cathedral” are both viewed as having little value by the main characters. The catalysts for change in these stories are similar: the two main characters view them negatively, they are unexpected intruders into the main characters’ every day routines, and they represent a way out from the closed world of the main characters. For Sammy in “ A&P” it is the young, scantily-clad girls who bring about this change, and for the husband in “Cathedral” it is the blind man Robert. Both Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” and John Updike’s short story “ A&P” contain central characters who are confronted with people who initially represent a stereotype to them but ultimately work as catalysts for a profound and unexpected change in the way they view the world. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |