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Using Plato's Cave to Understand Carver's "Cathedral" as Allegory

This analytical essay uses Plato's cave allegory to discuss motifs of sight and blindness/light and dark, themes of ignorance and fear, and questions about the nature of knowledge in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral." The student describes how the narrator must close his eyes in order to "see."
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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

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This essay received a B by one of Kibin's paper graders. Click here to see what was done well and what needs improvement.

More essays like this:

Not sure what I'd do without @Kibin
- Alfredo Alvarez, student @ Miami University
Exactly what I needed.
- Jenna Kraig, student @ UCLA
Wow. Most helpful essay resource ever!
- Chris Stochs, student @ UC Berkeley

View other essays like this one:

Bridget's feedback:

"This is a good start and you've located a set of interesting parallels that can help explore Carver's story. To move toward the next draft, I recommend first highlighting (or similarly marking out) your direct quotations; as you do so, you'll notice that your body paragraphs are largely quoted material, which can look like a loss of control over the source text. Try to distill these down or paraphrase, choosing instead to spotlight the most impactful pieces of evidence. Other ways to assert that control over the project include bringing all formatting into alignment with your style guide, including spacing, indents, and presentation of page numbers, which helps with readability and ethos, as does proofreading to catch minor issues that can add up over the paragraphs. Finally, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the allegorical spaces themselves (cave, cathedral), as well as the return of the man who has seen the sun to the cave (is Carver's blind man this man?)."

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