Without a doubt human beings are subject innate prejudices and assumptions. Sometimes, these assumptions hurt us personally, while at other times we use them to hurt others. The short story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver illustrates how prejudice and assumption can work against the truth and inhibit true human understanding. The author uses tone, diction, figurative, and rhetorical to communicate his theme that one's superficial assumptions about people may not always be correct. The story opens …showed first 75 words of 594 total…

…showed last 75 words of 594 total…stripped away and he is sincerely trying to be the blind man's eyes. He no longer views him as a rival or a threat. Perhaps he finally sees that in sight, at least, he has the upper hand, but even with that upper hand, he can not adequately portray the power and the beauty of the cathedral to his visitor. This finally puts them on equal ground. " I'm just no good at it," he says (325).