“It won’t hurt to learn something tonight”: Blindness and the Power of Touch in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral

Raymond Carver's short story Cathedral has been widely praised for its positive portrayal of disability and departure from negative stereotypes. However, the focus of this paper is to examine the role of blindness as a narrative device in the story. Specifically, it explores the experiences of blindness, emphasizing the interaction between blindness and touch. Drawing from disability studies, the paper argues that disability offers a valid perspective on the world, rather than being marginalized. This analysis is based on David Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder's concept of narrative prosthesis, which posits that narratives utilize disability to enrich and advance literary storytelling. Furthermore, the paper delves into Shannon Walters' concept of "rhetorical touch" as a potent means of identification, reinforcing the notion that tactile experiences are as valued as visual experiences. Through this framework, the argument is presented that Carver uses blindness to question and destabilize the dominance of visual perception in verbal communication and underscore the importance of affective and non-verbal communication in all its manifestations.