One word. Self-awareness. A great important factor in human daily lifestyle. Self-awareness means that a person is in control of their feelings, thoughts and behaviors. For example, a child may quickly judge someone for a disability that he or she cannot control. A person sitting in a wheelchair or using a cane to walk is a good interpretation. Other examples of self-awareness include: dealing with problems yourself at a young age and what to do in response. Two stories identify those same differences in the topic of self-awareness. These include Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" stories and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the short story “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver used first-person point of view. He used this point of view to role-play events and situations through the eyes of the narrator who, in the end, interacts face-to-face with the blind man. The key to this approach is for the reader to understand that the narrator is not entirely full of himself. The author didn't want to focus all the attention on the blind man, but wanted to let the readers focus on the body language the narrator directed at Robert. With the help of the story written in the first person, the point of view helps the intended audience to feel the true emotions of the narrator. Raymond Carver introduced the main narrator with the aim of experiencing and expressing self-awareness and signifying the importance of life changes. Because the narrator of the story is so self-absorbed, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife's presence and her emotions. Because Robert, the blind man, is so involved in the narrator's wife's past, he also feels sympathy for the narrator. Where, as the narrator says, “I wasn't thrilled about Roberts' visit. It wasn't anyone I knew. And the fact that he was blind bothered me." The narrator in saying this was very reserved and judged negatively. His wife describes Robert as one of her closest friends, or a person she turns to for support. From this point of view Carver underlines the distinction between the narrator who does not want to act to come to terms with himself, with his wife, and the blind man. The narrator also states that "learning never ends" because "he has ears." Even though the narrator physically has eyes and ears, he fails to use them properly to examine the real world and his feelings. In the story "Where are you going, where have you been?" , Connie, the protagonist, also focuses mainly on herself, her appearance and her mother's approval of her. "He was fifteen and had a habit of giggling quickly and nervously while craning his neck to look at himself in the mirror or check other people's faces to make sure his was okay." Connie is described as denying the right path to her own achievements. For example, Oates also states that "her [Connie's] mother was so simple, Connie thought." Connie is said to evaluate the peers around her as "simple", while she needs to work to be accepted in the real world. Oates also describes the fact that Connie was living in her fantasy, which prevented her from getting the things she wanted. wanted. Unlike Carver, Oates uses the third-person point of view of the story. This is why Connie's thoughts and feelings are presented in a suspicious setting. Oates does not give Connie the chance to change her perspective of the world and her feelings towards others. What drives the author.