Somewhat recently however, Carver’s editor, Gordon Lish, was noted to be one of the reasons that a lot of Carver’s stories come across in the minimalist style because of his penchant for cutting material out of Carver’s stories. Carver is also known as a literary impressionist and combining this with the minimalist style in “Cathedral” is one of the things which makes this short story so memorable to the reader. Carver was also influenced by Chekhov and Hemingway and thereby often puts “narrow epistemic parameters upon his characters” (Clark 105). This is because his works generally present “precision and austerity” (Clark 105) which is something which minimalist writings often display. The first thing which many people say about Carver and his writing style is that it is a minimalist style. Even though the narrator in the story is apprehensive about the blind man’s visit because of his lack of sight, he is also curious because he has little experience with the blind and in the end the blind man teaches the narrator what true vision, a looking beyond physical act of being able to see, is really all about. One of the story’s main themes is one of vision and insight. The man is apprehensive of the blind man because he has never associated with anyone blind before and there is also the continuing relationship that the wife and the blind man share that causes the man some bit of discomfort or jealousy. The blind man’s wife just recently passed away and he is on his way to see his in-laws in Connecticut and planned to stop by and visit with the wife on the way.

The story’s basic plot is that a blind man is coming to visit a man and his wife and the situation makes the man uncomfortable because the wife has maintained a long-distance relationship with the blind man for years through the exchange of cassette taped letters.

However, through writing in a minimalist style, he is able to break through the fluff and write stories that have substance and leave a lasting impact on the reader. He does not use unnecessarily flowery prose, and when composing, he sticks purely to the truth of the plot. Carver's style is defined in this paragraph. Many in the literary community consider Raymond Carver, author of the 1981 short story 'Cathedral,' to be a minimalist.

Raymond carver's short story cathedral