In Raymond Carver's Cathedral “appear...extreme versions of insularity, from a husband's self-imposed confinement in a sojourn in 'Preservation' to the pathetic reluctance of a else to leave an attic in 'Careful'” (Meyer). One of Carver's main goals in Cathedral is to criticize people who fail, in one way or another, to communicate with society. In almost every story, the main character suffers from insularity due to a horrible event in his life, alcoholism, or an inability to consider the thoughts and feelings of others. The stories “Attention,” “Preservation,” “Cathedral,” and “The Compartment” easily represent the entire novel's theme of the inability to relate to others. Each of these stories shows a slightly different degree of affliction, circumstances, and character types, making the entire novel effective for a wide audience. Carver wants people to stop thinking that "[the loss of the ability to interact with others] is something that happens to other people" (Carver 25) On the surface, "Careful" is a simple story of one man, Lloyd, the whose wife, Inez, left him because of his drinking problems. Lloyd also has hearing problems due to an earwax problem; however, this man has many more problems than appears on the surface. Lloyd has problems with alcohol and an inability to listen to others which leads him to isolate himself from others. These problems persist throughout the novel. “One morning [Lloyd] woke up and immediately started eating crumb donuts and drinking champagne. There was a time, a few years ago, when you would have laughed at a breakfast like this. There seems to be a double meaning here. First, the reader learns that a change has occurred in the protagonist that has changed him radically. The… medium of paper… has lost the ability to communicate with others as well as the ability to connect with others. Carver believes that communication between individuals is essential for lasting relationships to exist, which is absolutely true. This is why Carver emphasizes communication in so many of his stories: “Preservation,” “The Compartment,” “A Small Good Thing,” “Vitamins,” “Look Out,” “Where Am I Calling From,” and “Cathedral ”. ”In the end, Meyer confirms the reader's suspicion that his condition is irreversible. “Due to a last-minute change of heart, however, Meyers chooses to remain isolated in his "compartment" and, remaining on the train, reneges on the promise made to the boy, walling off everything external to his selfish world, including obligations paternal” (Meyer). The way “something caught and fell into place” (Carver, 57) symbolizes the permanence of Meyers' psychosis.