Cathedral

In "Cathedral", by Raymond Carver, the lonely and isolated narrator, known only as Bub, is appalled when his wife tells him that she has invited a blind man to stay with them. He has a litany of prejudices against blind people in general; including various stereotypes and ideas of how they should look. When he meets Robert, however, he finds that he is quite different from what he imagined and his preconceived notions are false. 

The narrator is completely isolated, and has no connections or relationships other than the one with his wife. This is made clear when he wife states he has no friends, and the narrator does not deny it. He is obviously very lonely, but his prickly and unfriendly personality leaves him ostracized from society. He cannot relate to anyone else, and finds himself unable to sympathize. His dead end job is only making things worse, and the lack of positive feelings from his life is notable. 

Even though Robert has a disability, he does not allow it to serve as a barrier and is much more personable and amiable than the narrator. He and the narrators wife have had a close relationship for many years, and they are comfortable telling each other intimate details of their lives. He is even friendly towards the narrator, who is awkwardly cordial towards him. 

When his wife falls asleep, the narrator is annoyed about the fact that he is stuck on the couch with Robert. He turns the television on, and finds that the only programming is a documentary on cathedrals. Instead of using this as a soporific, he leaves it on then feels required to describe it to Robert. He finds himself unable to come up with the appropriate words, and paints a very poor picture of a cathedral. When Robert suggests they draw the picture together, the narrator laughs in his face but then decides to give it a try. This experience ends up being the only true connection the narrator has ever had, which finally unites him with the rest of humanity. It also speaks towards another theme of the story; tolerance of other people and a respect for where they are coming from. Even though the narrator felt uncomfortable around the blind man simply because he was blind, the experience of drawing with him broke down his prejudices.