The common theme of “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee is the misinterpretation of people’s feelings and perceptions by representatives of different population groups. Its general idea is the impossibility of understanding each other without walking a mile in their shoes. As a result, both stories’ characters face the challenge of establishing contact with others who cannot truly empathize with them. Thus, for example, in “Cathedral,” the narrator fails to grasp the meaning of the loss of the blind man’s wife for him. The woman was reading to him when she was alive, and her death indicated the loss of connection with reality. The situation changes when they undertake the same activity, watching a TV program about the Middle Ages. The narrator’s attempts to explain what a cathedral by drawing it together with the man led to a shift in his perspective regarding this person’s struggles, which he did not understand at first.
In turn, his wife, who was in another room at the time, could not share this experience, and her husband saying that “it was something” did not manage to convey the message. In turn, the misunderstanding between people, as shown in “The Management of Grief,” is cultural but still resembles the case of “Cathedral.” In the story, Bhave lost her family in an accident and has to deal with her grief, and her attempts to remain calm make people think that she is successfully managing it. As a result, she is asked for help by Judith Templeton, a young government official who struggles to assist the people of her ethnicity. She claims that she cannot understand “the complications of culture, language, and customs,” thereby misinterpreting the woman’s demeanor. The difference in perceptions of grief by people from different backgrounds leads to the problem and makes the story’s theme similar to the one of “Cathedral.”