Best of the Week: Names

The best idea from class this week was our discussion of the importance of names in a story.  This lesson was demonstrated in our conversation about Cathedral.  Raymond Carver, the author of the story, leaves the narrator and his wife nameless while giving a name to the blind man.

I learned that this was not a carless choice by Carver, but was rather done on purpose to add to the story.  Making the blind man the only character in the story with a name emphasizes what an important character he is.  His name is also repeated often by the wife as she marvels at the man she is talking to.  Perhaps Robert is the only character given a name because of his extraordinary abilities to overcome his blindness, maybe most notably, in his relationship with his late wife.  It was clear that Robert and his wife had an extremely close relationship, and it is fascinating to think that he could be so very intimate with a woman who he’d never even seen before.  This is an admirable quality and truly something each of the characters as well as readers most likely look up to. 

Perhaps the narrator and his wife didn’t receive names because of the seeming monotony of their lives.  Leaving them nameless symbolized the lack of intimacy in their relationship.  It also put more attention on the real focus of the story; Robert.  This makes me think about the significance of people’s names in real life and how I address people differently as well as how I am addressed.  I am definitely going to keep this in mind when writing my short story, and carefully consider how giving names or not giving names to my characters affects the story.