Who is the mai character or protagonist of the story? Make a quick list of the character's physical, mental, moral, or behavioral traits. Which seem especially significant to the action of the story? Does the main character thave an antagonist in the story? How do they differ? Does the way the protagonist speaks reveal anything about his or her personality? If the story is told in the first person, what is revealed about how the protagonist view his or her surroundings? What is the character's primary motivation? Does the motivation seem reasonable to you? Does the protagonist fully understand his or her motivations? In what ways is the protagonist changed or tested by the events in the story?
The protagonist in “Cathedral” is the narrator who is never named throughout the story. The narrator towards the middle of the story mentions how he has “waited in vain to hear [his] name on [his] wife’s sweet lips” (86) but instead of ever referring to him by his name, she would just call him her “dear husband” (86) which irritated the narrator. The narrator has very negative traits, not only with himself but with everyone around him. He proves himself to be very selfish in various places. For example, while describing when his wife and him started dating, after hearing the poem his wife read aloud he “didn’t think much of the poem” (82). When his wife tells him of her blind friend, he gets bored mentioning how she told him “more detail than [he] cared to know” (83). While praying at the table, everything he mentions while praying is all for the benefit of him instead of others, “pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold” (86). Finally, instead of giving the guest the most comfortable chair in the house while gathering around the T.V he makes the effort to mention how he himself “took the big chair” (86) In addition to being selfish, he proves himself to be shallow. He hated just the thought of a “blind man in [his] house” (81) because he thought he wouldn’t have anything in common with him. Also, while referring to the blind man’s wife, instead of talking about how wonderful it is that there’s someone out there for everyone, or how great it is that a woman can see past the man’s blindness, he spits out how he can’t believe that someone could go all this [time] without [the blind man] having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like” (84). This proves that he cares more about other people’s looks rather than what’s on the inside. He refers to the blind man throughout the short story as “pathetic” (84) and “creepy” (85) and while gathering around the living room talking he simply has “no opinion” (87) on anything that seems to come up in conversation.
The blind man is obviously the antagonist in the story because the narrator feels challenged by him. It seems as if the narrator fells he has to compete with the blind man for his wife’s attention. This is a weird motivation which the protagonist strives for because obviously his wife loves him dearly however he is jealous of the fact that she is talking so highly about some man friend of hers. However, I don’t believe that the protagonist is fully aware of his jealousy throughout the short story. The narrator deliberately wants to put down the blind man, constantly wanting to talk about things he does not know about. For example, out of all the things to ask the blind man, he is itching to ask “about the scenic ride along Hudson” (85) proving his disrespectful nature.
The antagonist and the protagonist differ greatly. For example, the blind man seems very open to ideas and trying new things such as “smoking dope” (87) for the first time, with someone he just met. The blind man is very positive about his outlooks on things. He doesn’t dwell on the fact that he doesn’t know what a cathedral looks like, or that he can’t see what his meal looks like, or what his wife looks like. Instead the blind man serves as the complete opposite of the narrator, forced to focus on people’s personalities and the real meaning of things while the protagonist focuses on people’s appearance. The thing that made them differ the most was the fact that the blind man wanted “a chance to talk” (89) with the narrator showing that he really wanted to get to know him on a different level.
Towards the end of the story the blind man and the narrator were watching T.V in the family room. The channel they had on was about cathedrals. The cathedrals served as a symbol which reflected the antagonist and the protagonist themselves. While mentioning the cathedrals it was said how the “differences in the Portuguese cathedral and compared with the French and Italian were not that great but they were there. Mostly the interior stuff” (90). This proved how the blind man and the narrator may have had some exterior differences, but inside they were very similar. The blind man then goes to say how “they’re no different from the rest of [them]” (90) proving that in the end, everyone has things in common and individuals should not be judged by their appearance. This finally makes sense to the narrator while he is spending quality time with the blind man, drawing the cathedral while the blind man follows his pen. The narrator closes his eyes with the blind man and mentions how “it’s really something” (93). This quote is sort of an open quote because it has multiple meanings. The protagonist can be referring to the cathedral he just drew, or the “view” of seeing through the blind man’s perspective.
If I had to cast a male actor as the protagonist of this story, I would definitely choose Charlie Sheen. His outlook seems to be very negative and he is commonly known to be very selfish. He plays a major role in the popular T.V show "Two and a Half Men" with his character being very negative, sarcastic, jealous, and selfish. I think he would be a perfect fit for this role. 
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