Essay is to answer the question below, advice appreciated.
Why do you think Carver places so much emphasis on eating, drinking and smoking marijuana?
Cathedral
By Raymond Carver
The author places a lot of emphasis on eating, drinking and smoking marijuana because these are the activities that shows Bub more of Robert's character, aside from what his wife had told him and his own interpretation of blind people. It also broke the prejudices barrier he had against the blind man. And he started to feel more comfortable around Robert. Through these activities, Bub gains a better understanding of Robert.
At first, Bub didn't know how to interact with Robert. He was uncomfortable with Robert's presence. He had never interacted with any blind person before. Even though his wife always talk about him. Robert still feel like a complete stranger to him. When they first meet, he looked into his eye, he was disguised. He thinks it was "creepy" because the pupils move unintentionally. He wasn't sure what he should say to him, so being polite, he offered him a drink. At this point, he learn that Robert likes to drink scotch. And with the same taste as him, with just a little of water. This is also the first time he was addressed by Robert as "Bub".
When they were at the dinner table, they pray and started eating. They didn't talk. They concentrated on eating and they ate everything. But even though they weren't talking, Bub paid close attention to Robert. He was watching Robert's every movement. As the author stated, "I watched with admiration". He saw that even though Robert is blind, he has no problem at the dinner table. They placed the food on Roberts plate and he manage to find and cut the food without any help. He ate just as if he saw exactly where the food was at. Bub was impressed by Robert's ability.
At the end of the night, Bud had gotten more comfortable with Robert. So much that he even offered marijuana to Robert. His wife was tire and had gone to change, leaving Bub and Robert at the living room. Even though he didn't wanted to be left alone with Robert. Then he offered to smoke marijuana with Robert. This shows that he had accepted Robert. He had open up to Robert and shared what he likes with Robert. Robert gladly accepted, even though he had never smoke marijuana before. This brings Bub a step closer with Robert from his previous view of blind people.
At the end of the story, we can see that Bub is no longer uncomfortable with Robert. He is even happy to have Robert's presences. Bub said, "I'm glad for the company", because other nights, he would just smoke dope and watch TV alone till he fall asleep. Before the night, Bub only had jealousy and prejudice feelings about Robert, he didn't like Robert and felt intruded when his wife invited him to their house. But from drinking scotch, eating dinner, smoking marijuana and drawing cathedrals with Robert, he learned more about Robert than he expected.