Cathedral

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “Write Your Own Minimalist Fiction”  

In this activity, students will write a work of short fiction imitating the style and themes of Raymond Carver.

Raymond Carver disliked the characterization of “minimalism,” yet his fiction is perhaps the most representative example of the genre. In this activity, you will write a story in the minimalist style. Here are some guidelines.  

• The story can be short—quite short, in fact—but it must have a beginning, middle, and end. Carver’s celebrated story “Fat” comes in at under 1700 words, which can be a goal for your story.
• Your story should address at least one of the themes that Carver’s stories address: How Dysfunctional Families Trap Individuals, Working-Class Dissatisfaction, and/or Disengagement and Loneliness.
• Like Carver’s stories, your stories could be set in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, or you could choose a setting that you know well.
• Carver wrote without much figurative language, so you need not worry about similes, metaphors, analogies, or the like. Tell the truth of your story directly.
• While alcoholism is a steady theme in Carver’s stories, drinking alcohol does not need to appear in your story. (Stories such as “Chef’s House” and “Where I’m Calling From” do not feature drinking alcohol.)
• Your stories could contain the hallmarks of Carver’s minimalist style: simple word choice, direct sentences, and revealing dialogue that lacks ornamentation or emotion.

When you are done, share your stories with your classmates. Respond to their work with your thoughts on their minimalist style and their chosen themes.

Teaching Suggestion: If students need some help getting started, let them use the first two sentences from another Carver story, “Put Yourself in My Shoes,” for inspiration. “The telephone rang while he was running the vacuum cleaner. He had worked his way through the apartment and was going to the living room, using the nozzle attachment to get at the cat hairs between the cushions.”

Paired Text Extension:

Understand more about Carver’s uneasy relationship with the term “minimalism” by learning more about how he worked with his editor, Gordon Lish.

“Gordon Lish: ‘Had I Not Revised Carver, Would He Be Paid the Attention Given Him? Baloney!’”  

• Read this article from The Guardian Books.
• Do you think that Lish’s influence strengthened Carver’s writing? Does he deserve more of the credit for Carver’s “minimalism” than Carver himself?

Teaching Suggestion: For further study, students can read “The Bath,” a truncated version of “A Small, Good Thing” that Lish edited. After reading the story, students can debate which version is more effective.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Alcohol abuse plays a recurring role in Cathedral.  

• How does alcohol use affect the characters’ behavior in this collection? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, choose two or three characters whose actions are influenced by alcohol, and explain how it affects their outcomes.    
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate how the inclusion of alcohol-fueled behavior alters the tone of Raymond Carver’s stories.

2. Along with their serious themes, the stories in Cathedral often have moments of dark humor.

• How does Carver’s use of dark humor affect the tone of his fiction? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, choose two or three stories that contain moments of humor or characters who use humor, and analyze how the use of humor affects the tone of the story. 
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, state whether you think this use of humor is effective. 

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Taken together, what do the stories in Cathedral say about the nature of Disengagement and Loneliness? Which characters can make connections with others? Why do so many of the others fail? Support your claims with evidence.

2. Like all humans, these characters struggle to connect with one another and find meaning in life. In what ways do poverty and lack of employment make this struggle more difficult?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is a theme of “Feathers”? 

A) People often become preoccupied with unattainable wishes.  

B) Consumer culture makes it nearly impossible to connect with others.

C) Isolation reaches members of the upper class as well as the working class.

D) People are often unable to hear clear messages about their downfall.

2. In “Chef’s House,” what does Wes feel will happen at the end of his time in Chef’s House?

A) He and Edna will separate again and his period of sobriety will end. 

B) He and Edna will be forced to find another home on his meager wages.

C) He will become somebody new and please Edna for the first time.

D) He will separate from Edna and follow Chef to another sober home.

3. In “Preservation,” what is the significance of the book Mysteries of the Past?

A) It represents Sandy’s desire to reconcile with her husband.

B) It foreshadows the mishap that will destroy their marriage.

C) It foreshadows the pools of water that mark the story’s conclusion.

D) It represents Sandy’s husband’s inability to move forward.

4. What makes “The Compartment” different from the other stories in this collection?

A) It is set in Europe.

B) It takes place on a train.

C) It involves a family dispute.

D) It addresses regret.

5. In “A Small, Good Thing,” how does the telephone affect Scotty’s parents?

A) It brings news of death.

B) It harasses them. 

C) It allows them to speak to Scotty.

D) It provides them with escape.

6. Which best describes the narrator’s date with Donna at the Off-Broadway in “Vitamins”?

A) Boring

B) Romantic

C) Tense

D) Comic

7. In “Careful,” How does Lloyd‘s wife respond to his complaint that his ear is stopped up?

A) She tells him to call the family’s doctor.

B) She takes care of his problem and makes him well again. 

C) She ignores him and tells him they need to talk about money.

D) She tries to talk to him but he can’t understand her words.

8. What message about alcoholism does “Where I’m Calling From” relay?

A) Alcoholism causes accidents that lead to injury.

B) Alcoholism is the source of urban violence.

C) Alcoholism is a societal problem that should be eliminated.

D) Alcoholism is a disease that affects a person over a lifetime.

9. Which of the following is a theme of “The Train”?

A) Travelers are often in danger of chance encounters with criminals.

B) The modern city is full of strangers ready to pounce on helpless victims.

C) Only through travel can we understand the world around us.

D) The dramas of our daily struggles mean little to the lives of strangers.

10. What is Carlyle finally able to accept at the conclusion of “Fever”?

A) Raising children as a single parent is a challenge.

B) Eileen’s life no longer has any room for him.

C) He will never recover without Mrs. Webster’s aid.

D) His children have forgiven him for the divorce.

11. In “The Bridle,” what is the symbolism of the bridle?

A) The narrator’s love of riding.

B) A husband’s need to gather possessions.

C) A wife’s inability to choose.

D) The motel’s dependable service.

12. Which best describes the narrator’s attitude toward the communication between Robert and his wife in “Cathedral”?

A) Welcoming

B) Oblivious

C) Furious

D) Uncomfortable

13. What do Wes from “Chef’s House” and Lloyd from “Careful” have in common?

A) They both suffer from a nagging physical ailment.

B) They both rely on their ex-wives for support.

C) They both enjoy periods of sobriety.

D) They both lose hearing temporarily.

14. What theme do “Preservation” and “Vitamins” have in common?

A. Travelers who pass one another in the night will never know each other’s stories.

B. The loss of employment can have a devastating effect on a person’s self-esteem.

C. Some people’s loneliness can cause them to suppress reality to follow pleasure.

D. The temptation of adultery is too much for some spouses to resist. 

15. Which plot event best represents How Dysfunctional Families Trap Individuals?

A. Ann and Howard wait in the hospital for their son to recover.

B. Meyers is annoyed with the man sleeping in his compartment.

C. Sandy waits for her husband to find a new job after losing his.

D. J. P. becomes a partner in Roxy’s father’s business.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does Joey’s entrance in the first story make sense of subsequent surprises in the collection?

2. In “Cathedral,” how does the narrator make a personal connection with Robert?