Financial Systems of Ghana and Nigeria

Financial Systems of Ghana and Nigeria Since the idea of Adam Smiths invincible hands also known as invincible hand of the market, the allocative power of the market has been generally recognised. These ideas have been reinforced by the apparent failure of Keynesian theories of government intervention to stand the test of time. As a result of the adoption of SAP (Structural Adjustment programme) by most developing countries including Ghana and Nigerian which are my main concentration, the debate of liberalization versus intervention has been rekindled. The major area of concentration is if these developing countries (Ghana and Nigeria) with imperfect markets have benefitted from recent liberalization efforts in the structural adjustment programme. Financial liberalization is usually an important component of a countrys strategy for economic growth. In an old fashion way, financial liberalization, has come to be most universally linked with freeing of interest rates, but now financial liberalization is seen as a process involving a much broader set of measures geared toward the elimination of various restrictions on the financial sector, such as the removal of portfolio restrictions on the banking sector, the reform of the external sector, and also changes in the workings of the monetary policy THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF GHANA AND NIGERIA. A key stylised fact about financial systems in developing countries is that they are dominated by commercial banks (Fry, I995, pp. 4-5; Rojas-Suairez and Weisbrod, I995, pp. 4) Ghana and Nigerias financial system consists of a large fragmented informal sector and formal sector. The formal sector is made up of central bank(Bank of Ghana and Central Bank of Nigeria) at the apex, with 42 commercial banks for both countries; Nigeria (26) and Ghana (16), development banks (Nigeria, (5), Ghana (3) , and merchant banks (30) Nigeria), (Ghana, (10), insurance companies, stock exchange, building society, community banks. The structure of Nigerias financial system will be explained below: Regulatory Authorities: they regulate the Nigerian financial system, and they include Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),), and the National Board for Community Banks (NBCB, National Insurance Commission (NIC). These regulatory authorities will be explained in detail below. 1. Federal Ministry of Finance: the role of this regulatory authority is to advise the Federal Government on its fiscal operation and make sure it follows whatever the central bank of Nigeria says concerning the monetary matters of the country. 2. FEDERAL MORTGAGE BANK OF NIGERIA (FMBN) The role of the is to provide banking and advisory services, and also to undertake research activities pertaining to housing. After the adoption of the National Housing Policy in 1990, The FMBN is empowered to licence and control main mortgage institutions in Nigeria and act as the peak regulatory body for the mortgage finance industry. 3. The central bank of Nigeria The central bank of Nigeria has the same responsibilities as the bank of Ghana. It was established by the central bank of Nigeria act of 1958 and commenced operation on July 1, 1959. Their major regulatory objective is to issue legal tender to the economy, banker of last resort, financial adviser to the government, enhance monetary stability and a good financial environment which will be of benefit to the country in the short and long run. the central bank of Nigerias success is partly as a result of the rise in crude oil prices. 4. The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation: Its role is to complement the supervisory and regulatory role of central bank of Nigeria (CBN). It has the right to examine the books and affairs of the insured banks in Nigeria and other deposit taking financial institutions. ORIGIN OF FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION IN NIGERIA Nigerias economy has always been dependent on oil prices since the early 1960s. As a result of the collapse of world oil prices and the reduction in the production of petroleum in the early 1980s, the nature of the countrys economic and financial position became very weak and vulnerable. This led to recession and economic deterioration. The economy was characterised by shortages in its foreign exchange, debt crises, negative economic growth and high rates of unemployment, Indeed, beginning from 1982, and through 1984, the country had become saddled with negative trends in economic growth as indicated by the decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) (0.35% in 1982; -5.37% in 1983; and -5.18% in 1984), persistent current account and budget deficits, a huge number of uncpmleted projects in the public sector, factory closures, large-scale retrenchment, acute shortages of essential commodities and galloping inflation, (Odusola,2001,p4). The government decided to carry out some short run stabilization measures, one of which was to foster employment through the creation of public sector jobs, this exerted more pressure on the budget, not withstanding that, public sector employment grew by a further 18 per cent between 1981and 1984. This policy promoted migration into cities, as the increases in government salaries during this period compared to that of the rural areas was more favourably. Urban migration and its attendant unemployment problems became even more pronounced in 1981 when the Government increased the minimum wage rate to the entry level salary of public sector employees. Urban unemployment increased significantly, from 2 ½ per cent in 1980 to 10 per cent in 1985, while rural unemployment rose from 4 per cent to 6 per cent over the same period. Real per capital income fell significantly as well, from US$1,010 in 1981 to US$850 in 1985 (Odusola, 2001, Pp4). Nigeria financial sector was characterised by rigid exchange and interest rate controls, sart orial allocation of bank credit (Okpara, 2010, P54), the naira was overvalued, all of which made the economy more exposed to risk of default and practically led to distortions that resulted into low direct investment, which in turn led to financial repression. it will be discussed more in-depth below. Financial repression discouraged investment in information capital; it also discouraged savings mobilization, in the sense that it was not vigorously pursued. The financial system incurred a lot of cost in financial intermediation, and it was as a result of inactive liquidity and liability management and incentives to increase efficiency. Not only was Nigeria the only country going through this problem of financial repression, much of the twentieth century saw intensified financial repression (Caprio et al, 2001 p5), for example, Ecuador, Uruguay, Mexico, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania etc, all had the problem of financial repression in their economy. As a result of the financial repression i n the economy, the government decided to adopt a financial sector reform to help increase the countries economy. The programme they adopted was called Structural adjustment programme (SAP). STRCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME IN GHANA AND NIGERIA. The Ghanaian economy also went through the same problems as the Nigerian economy during the early 1980s. They had similar problems as the Nigerian economy; which include, high default rates, high rates of inflation, weakened confidence in the financial system. These affected the ability of the banks to perform their intermediation function properly (Acquaye and Sowa, 1999, p395). The major objectives of this SAP were, among others, to: Restructure the economy in a way to reduce its dependence on oil as its main source of income. Revitalise the financial sector by creating new institutions Reduce fisal balance of payment problems Promote non-inflationary economic growth. The key policies designed to achieve these objective were: The liberalization of the external trade and payments system-dismantling of price, trade and exchange controls; Implementation of methods to encourage domestic production and expand the supply base of the economy; The setting up of a Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM) as a mechanism of realistic exchange rate. The rationalization and restructuring of public sector enterprises and overhauling of the public sector administrative structure. Reinforcement of important and strong demand management policies; More rationalisation and restructuring of tariffs in order to aid industrial diversification; The elimination of price controls and commodity boards; The key reforms that have already been implemented as part of the financial liberalization policies include; Changing of the concept of a credit ceiling with OMO(Open market operation) Promoting competition and efficiency in the financial system Liberalizing interest rate, exchange rate, but in general the financial sector. The financial sector reforms were thrown into crisis by the sequencing of reform measures and the lack of the necessary prerequisites for liberalization. Particularly, the deregulation of interest rate and the requirements for market entry led to the instability of the financial system. A series of corrective measures had to be adopted, raising questions of policy credibility (Aiyeetey et al, 1997, P196). THE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME: THEORETICAL BASIS Virtually every sub Saharan African country including Nigeria and Ghana experienced major changes in the overall direction of the national economic policy in the early 1980s. These policy reforms were implemented as an integral part of the structural adjustment programmes (SAP) prescribed by the World Bank and the stabilization programme of the international monetary fund (IMF) (Olasupo, 2005, p 7). The structural adjustment programme had a lot of objectives, but the major objective of this reform programme was to correct the alleged distortions which made sustained economic growth and recovery in the economies difficult. Notwithstanding the general decision of the countries to undertake the adjustment programme, there has since the start of the 1990 decade, been wide ranging argument surrounding the theoretical paradigm underlying the SAP and their suitability to African countries. The first which is the unrequited orthodoxy; it emphasizes how well the adjusters have done in compari son to non adjusters. According to this perspective, the regime of restricted inward looking policies resulted in over protected industrial structure, balance of payment problems (Olasupo 2005, p10). They also contend that development problems will be solved by more adjustment not less, with this they concluded that sub- Saharan African countries experienced poor macroeconomic growth and performance relative to their South East Asian counterparts, because economies in the former were exposed to long term government intervention and restrictive macroeconomic and sectorial polices. The modified orthodoxy sees adjustment programmes in an economy as a necessary but not sufficient condition for development, because adjustment is only capable of stabilizing economies in the short term. This orthodoxy believes that other measures must be put in place for African development to occur in the medium and long term. A strong proponent of this approach puts it, the most significant shortcoming o f current structural adjustment programs is the lack of logical linkage between the short-term objectives of attaining balance-of-payments equilibrium and improving allocative efficiency and the long-term objective of sustainable development Nguyuru Lipumba, (p. 9) FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND REPRESSION. Financial liberalization is the process of breaking away from a state of financial repression. Financial repression has been most commonly associated with government fixing of interest rates and its adverse consequences on the financial sector as well as on the economy. The term financial repression was originally coined by economists interested in less developed countries (LDCs) Gupta, 2004, Pp2. It originated in the works of Ronald I. McKinnon and Edward S. Shaw in the early 1970s, to describe a developing countrys environment, defining it as the set of government legal restrictions preventing the financial intermediaries in the economy from functioning at their full capacity level. The most common forms that this intervention takes are interest rate regulations, directed credit schemes, and high reserve ratios. The literature on financial repression stresses that because savings levels are sensitive to real interest rate, nominal interest rate controls; cumulative inflation reduces the amount of the national income. The benefits of financial repression, as opposed to financial liberalization, are debated on several points Ozdemir Erbil, (2008). In theory, it is believed that financial repression can make it better to control money supply in an economy and also control over interest rate which will induce investment. Another argument in favour of financial repression is that government controls on financial markets are needed for developing countries. In practice, financial repression appears to have yielded government revenue in the order of 2 % of GDP on average in samples of developing countries (Giovannini and de Melo, I 993; Fry et al. I 996, p. 36). The main conviction of the advocates for financial repression is that the government knows better than the market. The repression mechanism works through the interest rate and the exchange rates. Therefore moving from financial repression to financial liberalization would require extra budgetary measures and could create budgetary problems, Like in the case of Nigeria in the early 1980s when the government seeked to reduce unemployment in the urban areas and the outcome of this decision exerted more pressure on the budget. Financial liberalization may increase the fiscal deficit and the cost to finance, as the government loses revenues and is forced to pay more market-based interest rates on its existing debt. On the other hand, the most popular argument which favours financial liberalization is the rising growth effect by motivating savings and investment. Financial liberalization may increase the level of savings and improve the allocation of savings among potential investors. This will lead to the creation of more available funds and hence economic growth. Financial liberalization may decrease the cost of capital, but on the other hand, movements which cause the crises and macroeconomic instability may have a negative impact on economic growth Ozdemir and Erbil (2008). This debate highlights the need for further sound empirical evidence on the benefits of financial liberalization on economic growth, especially for small open economies of developing countries. FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND SAVINGS The advocates of financial liberalization do not seek to induce savings, but to promote and increase the volume and efficiency of capital formation. While financial reform can affect saving through various potential channels, on the whole its net effect is ambiguous.( Schmidt- Hebbel and Serven,2002, p2). Moreover saving is often considered beneficial for its financial dimensions. In open economies, raising national saving is a way to reduce the dependence on foreign saving, protecting the economy from external shocks. This is an important policy concern in a world of increasing financial integration. Together with a strong and well-capitalized financial system, saving represents a form of self -insurance to reduce the economys vulnerability to unexpected reversals of international capital flows. In this manner, saving can help reduce macroeconomic volatility, which empirically has been shown to hamper growth (Ramey and Ramey 1995; Fatà ¡s 2000). Various researchers have shown some empirical evidence that although financial liberalization results in higher interest rate and financial deepening , it does not really lead to higher savings. In majority of countries, financial reforms are followed by declines in savings (Okereke,2009). Bandiera et al (2000) estimated an econometric relationship Showing the private saving ratio as a function of the real interest rate and degree of openness as an index for financial liberalization, along with income, inflation and public savings. analyze the experience of eight countries that underwent significant reforms in their financial systems, namely Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Foe this countries they measured the effect of liberalization on the volume of aggregate savings, their results Their results do not provide a clear answer on the impact of reforms on saving, as the effect appears significantly negative in some cases (Korea and Mexico), positive in some others (Greece and Turkey) and insignificant in the Indonesia, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. In a study similar to theirs i.e.(Bandiera et al), Loayza and Shanka(2000), used India as their country of observation, and the savings rate from India and found out that financial reform has not changed the savings rate, but moved the composition of savings in India towards a higher share of durable goods. Ostry and levey(1995), in their findings maintained that financial development as a result of liberalization reduced savings. Bennett et al(2001), in their work, also found a negative significant effect on savings. CONSEQUENCES OF FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION Policies that make an economy open to the rest of the world and they are needed for sustained economic growth. No country has achieved economic success, in terms of substantial increases in living standards for its people, without being open to rest of the world. Trade opening has been an important element in the economic success of East Asia, where the average import tariff has fallen from 30 percent to 10% over the past 20 years. Opening up economies to global economy has been essential in enabling many developing countries to develop competitive advantages in different sectors of their economy. Countries that have opened their economies in recent years, foe example India in 1991, have experienced faster growth rate and more poverty reduction, a proof is that following the economic reforms, the country began to develop a fast paced economic growth. India is the eleventh largest economy in the world There are some negative effects experienced by countries or the world in general in terms of their reform policies that has outweighs the benefits of such reforms, this statement can be applied to the effects of financial liberalization despite its benefits in terms of access to more capital inflows. Financial liberalization creates exposure to various kinds of risk and they include; a propensity to lead to financial internal and external financial crises, inadequate access to funds for small scale producers etc. Many researchers have carried out empirical studies on financial liberalization on financial fragility of the economy, and their conclusion is that liberalization increases the fragility of the financial system. According to (Demirguc-kunt detragiache), one of the reason why financial liberalization may lead to increased financial sector fragility is that the removal of interest rate ceilings and also the reduction of barriers to entry reduces bark franchise values, thus exacerbating moral hazards problems. The moral hazards problem is a special case of information asymmetry, a situation in which one party in a transaction has more information than another. Normally banks try to protect their franchise, and the risk of losing their franchise, but during a period of policy reform such as financial liberalization, where there is free entry in to the market or financial sector, so as a result of that there is more competition, this erodes franchise values. If the effort of reform does not incorporate adequate strengthening of the prudential regulations and supervision to realign incentives, lower franchise values are likely to lead to increased fragility (Stiglitz et al (2001) Tornell et al (2003), in their studies, they said that financial liberalization is bad for growth because it leads to crises. Their empirical analysis shows that in countries with harsh credit market imperfections, financial liberalization leads to a more rapid growth but also a more higher incidence of crises. They also argued that liberalization leads to faster growth because it eases financial constraints, but on one condition that this occurs if agents which are the government, investors and creditors take on credit risk which makes the economy fragile and prone to crisis.

How far was Lloyd Georges fall from grace in 1922 the result of his own mistakes after 1918? Essay

A general election held in 1918 gave Lloyd George and the Conservative coalition a very comfortable majority in parliament, but it also left Lloyd George in an untenable position. The coalition consisted overwhelmingly of Conservatives, meaning that Lloyd George’s hold on power was extremely weak. He could not do many of the things he would have liked to do in a purely Liberal government, simply because he did not have the support of the Conservatives. After the war, Lloyd George faced some very serious domestic problems. Firstly was the issue of the German reparations and punishments. There was a strong feeling in Britain that Germany was fully responsible for the war, and therefore should be punished severely. Lloyd George did not subscribe to this opinion. He felt that Germany should be punished, but not to the extent that it ceased to exist. He came to the conclusion that if Germany was effectively destroyed by war payments, it would leave a large power vacuum in the centre of Europe. Lloyd George was worried that this gap would be filled by the Communist ideals of the Bolsheviks. Along with this, the post-war depression that was consuming Britain resulted in a loss of popularity for Lloyd George. The new markets Britain were relying after the war had not materialized, and several of Britain’s old markets had found cheaper suppliers. This resulted in a large scale closing of many industries. The failure of both France and Russia to pay back their war loans meant that Britain in turn was not able to pay back the loans borrowed from America. This in turn resulted in a dramatic increase in unemployment, going far beyond the ‘intractable million’. In both of these situations, the Conservatives in the coalition were more than happy to sit back and let Lloyd George take the blame for these domestic problems. They began to notice his dwindling popularity and made no effort to halt it. The Conservatives were more than aware that they had a large enough amount of MP’s to have an overall majority in parliament, so for the time being they were content to sit back and allow Lloyd George to try and work Britain out of it’s economical mess. After the war, the vast gap in Liberal and Conservative policy became overwhelmingly apparent. The pressing issue of the continuing nationalisation of the coal mines caused many problems for Lloyd George. As a liberal, George was in favour of public ownership of the mines. Knowing that it would be impossible to convince the Conservatives to carry on with the nationalisation, he ordered an independent commission into the matter. He told the trade unions that he would abide by whatever was decided by the commission. Lloyd George assumed he had averted the matter by appointing a top judge, Mr. Justice Sankey. Lloyd George felt that Sankey was bound to want privatisation of the mines. When Sankey found in favour of continuing nationalisation, Lloyd George was in a compromising situation. He had already promised to carry out whatever Mr. Sankey decided, but he did not want to upset the Conservative majority. In the end, Lloyd George decided to do nothing. This greatly upset the trade unions, and resulted in a lasting distrust in him. The Chanak incident resulted in a similar situation for Lloyd George. Firstly, it widened the chasm between the two factions of the coalition further, with Lloyd George supporting the Greeks, and the Conservatives continuing their support of Turkey. More importantly, the Conservatives were worried with Lloyd George putting Britain at military risk so soon after WWII. This is the clearest sign of Conservative disillusionment with continuing the coalition. Lloyd George was also plagued by external factors he had no control over. An example of this is the change in leadership of the Conservative party. Bonar Law was an extremely influential figure within his party. He was good at persuading people to his point of view. His successor Austen Chamberlain lacked the finesse of Bonar Law. He spoke to his party about continuing the coalition only days after two coalition Conservative MPs had been defeated in by elections. This meant that at the time the Conservatives had very little patient with the coalition. The growing disenchantment with Lloyd George was only elevated by his style of government. During the war, George formed a small war cabinet that had the power to make changes in any area of the government. After the war, this continued. Rather than consulting his cabinet on important matters, he preferred to consult a small group of advisors. This obviously upset the Conservative cabinet, as their influence over Lloyd George was falling. Another source of discontent from the Conservatives toward Lloyd George was the so called ‘honours scandal’. After his split from Asquith and the original Liberal party, Lloyd George’s liberals needed a secure source of funding. To aid this, he allowed honours to be sold to wealthy people for a great deal of money. This was certainly not the first example of this happening, but it was the first example of it happening on such a wide scale. To further contribute to the problem, several less than savoury business bought themselves titles. The press caught hold of these affairs and made it commonly known, much to the Conservatives dismay. Examples like these show clearly that Lloyd George contributed significantly to his own downfall, but it’s likely that the Conservative decline in support played a larger part in his fall from grace. While Lloyd George was popular with the public, he was an electoral asset, but as his popularity among the electorate decreased, so did his support from the Conservatives. Backbench Conservative MPs were particularly upset with continuing the coalition as it meant they had less promotion opportunities as a number of cabinet places had to be filled by Liberal MPs. Even if Lloyd George’s popularity among the electorate had remained high, it is hard to imagine the Conservatives wanting to continue the coalition past 1922. The 1918 election had given the Conservatives the confidence they needed after having several years out of power. They realised they would have had a majority in Parliament without the Liberals in the coalition. While it is impossible to ignore Lloyd George’s shortcoming as Prime Minster in peace time, it is clear that Conservative disillusionment was the main cause of his downfall. Bibliography: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk http://www.llgc.org.uk â€Å"David Lloyd George – A Biography† Peter Rowland

Top Literary Essay Samples Secrets

Top Literary Essay Samples Secrets An outline for a poetry analysis essay can be exceedingly straightforward, as it is only a guideline for the writer to construct upon as the very first draft is written. You could also see concept essay. You could also see scholarship essay. In conclusion, an analytical essay is an essay meant to elaborate more than that which the readers or viewers of a particular piece might actually see. Top Literary Essay Samples Choices You will also need to prevent the dreaded I factor offirst-person writing. First question however won't confine us for a very long moment. A great hook sentence is intended to grab your readers attention. It's definitely important to reread the literary piece several times in order to find a complete grasp of the many suggestions and concepts. Don't underestimate how valuable it's to know the way your work is going to be judged. Be sure it is going to be difficult. 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Although, one particular point to think about is to not overstate. The information that you present can start up as a wide discussion eventually narrowing to the thesis statement. The Dirty Truth About Literary Essay Samples Starting a theme essay with a superior hook will let you capture your readers attention. When you understand what the poem is attempting to say, you will need to develop a theme. To start with, a theme can be as easy as the moral of a fable. It is a central idea in a poem. The Nuiances of Literary Essay Samples When you've built up all of the information regarding your essay, you're prepared to wrap this up. The topic you choose to select for your analytical essay will establish the facts and details you will need to include. Since you may see, presenting a suitable essay is both difficult and time-taking. Scroll down the page in order to see extra essay samples which can help you in producing your very own literary essay. 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Students lead busy lives and frequently forget about a coming deadline. Frequently, you'll simply have to concentrate on your own ideas and just support your claims with logic and evidence from your text. If you're not sure about what information ought to be included in the criticism, skim through the job. The important approach will find out the content of the interpretation. The objective of Freudian analysis is to emphasize the presence of psychic conflicts as an alternative to searching for aesthetical merits.

Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral - 1097 Words

Karina A. Burr Instructor Barbra Green Writing 102 11 September 2015 Cathedral by Raymond Carver In this short story by Raymond Carver begins with a man whose wife invited a good friend over named Robert and is blind. Before Roberts Arrival, the wife’s husband, whose name is Bub, does not know what to make out of his wife’s good friend Robert coming over to their house. Carver utilizes a story of a blind man who changes Bub’s outlook in life. Through the narrators changing character, theme of loneliness and jealousy, and the cathedral being a symbol at the end of the story, this brings together a powerful message in the story when one blind man and one man with sight share an evening together drawing out a cathedral. The theme of this story plays a strong role of physical and psychological blindness. The narrator has sight and is not blind. But it seems as if the narrator is blinded by his own personality. He is too quick to judge a blind man who he has not even met yet but judge a blind man because of what he saw on television . Bub, the narrator says, â€Å"And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing dogs-eye dogs. (Carver 299). It is also seen that Robert always refers the man as â€Å"the blind man† rather than Robert. The narrator sees him not as human-like because of his disability. The author lets the audience know that even though a man mayShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1696 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom, or trying to bury alive. Cathedral, written by Raymond Carver, takes place in the early 1980’s. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981. Carver slightly revised the story and re-released it in 1983. At a time when the blue collar working class lived paycheck to paycheck, working hard for newfound luxuries such as color television, this short story is humorous and eye-opening for the reader. For adults ranging from thirty to forty years old, the 1980’s were possibly a ghostly, hauntingRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1426 Words   |  6 PagesCharacter Analysis in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†: The Narrator Literature has the potential to act as a mirror by presenting people’s lived experiences, expectations, and perceptions through characters. Such is what can be deciphered through the analysis of different characters in Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral.† This paper focuses on the narrator of the story portrayed by the author as blind, which is used metaphorically not to imply physical blindness, but the inability to have reasonedRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1006 Words   |  5 Pages Gabrielle Sobolewski English 200 Professor Ruth Jennison 11/12/15 The short story â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver is told from the perspective of a first-person narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator is self-absorbed in his own thoughts and emotions and fails in his willingness to overlook personal insecurities in order to accommodate others’ discomfort, i.e. predominantly his wife and the blind man. In general, the story lacks figurative language and is told in short, directRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 970 Words   |  4 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s short story, â€Å"Cathedral†, we meet the character who is never named, and who is known as the narrator to us. Although the narrator’s character changed towards the end, and we don’t really learn much after the change of his personality, it is still a gradual change that took place. The narrator’s attitude is very important in the story because it revolves around him and the way he views things. This short story is about a m an who is married to a woman, and this woman has been friendsRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 943 Words   |  4 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†, the short story is told by a character within the story. The first-person point of view gives us a transparent visual of an important time in the narrators’ life. The narrator, who is â€Å"un-named† in the beginning of the story, uses blunt, flawless and a particular choice of words. This gives us as the reader a deeper connection with the narrator. The narrator begins this story by taking us through the changes he go through with the uneasy feeling of having a blind-manRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s The Cathedral 863 Words   |  4 Pages One of the Raymond Carver story where we can find a lot of religion symbols; it is â€Å"Cathedral.† The story develops an ironic situation in which a blind man teaches a sighted man to truly â€Å"see† for the first tim e. Near the end of the story, Carver has these two characters work together on a drawing of a cathedral, which serves as the symbolic heart of the story. The cathedral represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The narrator’s drawingRead MoreAn Analysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1794 Words   |  8 Pages A Cynics Enlightenment Raymond Carver’s short-story Cathedral is outwardly about a pessimistic man, whose wife’s blind visitor named Robert changes the narrators predisposing perception of the world and awakes a new view on life in the process. But inwardly, the story is about the desperate need for connection between these three characters, which isn’t feasible do to the emotional-detachment by the narrator. In the beginning, the narrator is hindered by his prejudices which doesn t allow himRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral1524 Words   |  7 PagesAs if someone has unlocked his prison cell to liberate him of his stereotypical point of view. The protagonist of Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† was an individual whose stagnant mind has blind him from truly seeing the aspects and characteristics of people around him. Before meeting his wife’s blind friend whose name is Robert, the protagonist perceives reality with a stereotypical mind-set shaped by m isleading information from movies. Hence, he make judgement about other people without ever settingRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral2364 Words   |  10 Pagesmost. The same could be said about people who are limited by one or more of their six senses and are judged by the majority of the population who are not limited and make preconceived notions about these limitations which can bind them. Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral† explores many literary devices that reveal the pre conceived perception towards people with physical limitations without understanding the individual first, which is still a problem today. The protagonist, the narrator is closed mindedRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s Cathedral 1340 Words   |  6 PagesRaymond Carver’s characters were considered to be very much like him: â€Å"’on the edge: of poverty, alcoholic self-destruction, loneliness† (Mays 32). His short story â€Å"Cathedral† is about a young couple, who have a visitor coming to stay with them. This visitor, Robert, is the wife’s friend, and he is blind. The narrator, the husband, has never met someone who is blind, was bothered by that. To him, being blind meant constantly needing help from others. His depiction of blindness was what he has seen