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Overcoming Prejudice

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all stereotype groups of people. Our minds desire order, and we have an urge as humans to structure the world around us to better predict events, situations, and behaviors. Usually those with common backgrounds will share culture and experiences, leading to some patterns in behavior, yet it is still impossible to define every individual within a group through a handful of statements. It is reasonable to assume a Christian will go to church on Sunday, but that doesn't mean every Christian wakes up for every Sunday morning service. Most stereotypes are of a darker nature, and take more effort to move beyond. In Raymond Carver's Cathedral and J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, characters overcome their hate and mistrust for each other by shared experiences and tribulations.

In Cathedral, the husband has quite a dismal look on blind people. He has never met one, but he has seen other stereotypes of the blind where they wore dark glasses, stumbled around, and had very negative drab attitudes. The last thing he wanted was one of these people coming into his house. But when a friend of his wife's spouse dies, the husband is forced to open his doors. The man was married for eight years, and the husband could only think of how miserable a life that woman must have led after marrying a blind man. Since this man means so much to his wife, he has no choice but to try and be kind to Robert, but at the same time there is a growing tension in the husband as his wife seems to completely ignore him for the evening.

In The Lord of the Rings, Gimli and Legolas have great mistrust for one another. Gimli is a dwarf from the Lonely Mountain, and Legolas is an elf from Mirkwood. For ages the two races have despised each other. Elves are seem as silly and nosensical to the dwarves, all they seem to do is write poetry, sing and drink their lives away. Elves on the other hand see dwarves as greedy and twisted, ready to sacrifice all things of beauty for money and power. On top of the racial tensions between the two, Gimli's uncle was incarcerated by the king of Mirkwood, so Gimli bears an even greater grudge against Legolas. At the Council of Elrond, where delegates of all the free people of Middle Earth meet to discuss the fate of their world, it becomes clear that a handful of people will need to destroy the ring, in the heart of the enemies terretory. When Legolas volunteers, Gimli is not about to let such an important task rest in the hands of an elf alone.

On their journey, the two begin to depend on each other, especially after the nine members of the fellowship break up and Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas are left in on their own. They begin to gain some respect for one another during their travels as each notes the other's talents and capabilities. This culminates at the Battle of Helm's Deep. Vastly outnumbered with no place to run, the two relieve some of their stress by engaging in a rivalry to see who can slay the most orcs. They find they are equally comparable warriors, and towards the end of the battle they are forced to retreat into the back caves of the fortress where brilliant veins of precious minerals and metals. Legolas is horrified at the idea of letting more dwarves come and mine the minerals, completely ruining the beauty of the cave. Gimli convinces him that the dwarves would spend years before swinging a single pick-axe, only working to follow the veins to enhance the beauty of these caves. Legolas seeing that a dwarf can appreciate things of beauty above material wealth, and Gimli seeing that an elf can be serious and come to fight as well as any dwarf, the two become friends.

While the husband and Robert never come to blows or fight any epic battles, there still is a great deal of tension. The husband can't see why his wife spends so much time with this obviously inferior person, to the point where he feels completely ignored in the room. He feels threatened, especially when Robert and his wife spend so much time talking about their past, and she does not once mention her husband, as if that wasn't important to her. She even scolds him at one point. Yet over the course of the evening, the husband observers Robert eating capably, and smokes cigarettes and dope. Robert is jolly, and has a full beard, the complete opposite of what his notion was. Yet the defining moment is after his wife goes to sleep and the two men are left watching a documentary on cathedrals. The husband fails at describing cathedrals, so Robert helps him draw one. Robert may be blind, but he had faith and spirit that let him understand cathedrals better than the husband. Shocked that it took a blind man to help him see, the husband comes to accept and respect Robert, overcoming his prejudice.