Super-Cripple Sights: Disable Heroes in Raymond Carver's Cathedral and Sophocles' Oedipus Rex

Robert and Tiresias, disable protagonists respectively of Raymond Carver's Cathedral Sophocles' Oedipus Rex with their super cripple qualities challenge the imperatives ableist ideals. Protagonists’ blindness leads them to insight whereas counter characters’ sight darkness. Such a role reversal questioning dichotomies establishes an alternative view definition insight. To support this claim, I use Lennard J. Davis’ concept bodies in literature, Rod Michalko’s notion fictional explorations disability, Nickianne Moody’s model disability informed criticism backed up by Judith Butler’s body politics, Rosemarie Thompson’s idea extraordinary bodies, different critical readings on body. This framework interpretation validates as cultural construction. It also regards literatureas apt venue culturally assigned ability favor new possibilities. The theoretical thus discovers Carver Sophocles redrawing able-bodiedness deeply rooted hierarchies like able/disable, sight/blind, sight/insight, body/mind, visible/invisible, inside/outside literary texts.