Project Summary: Read article and answer three questions in paragraphs form.1. Many critics have seen in John Updike's work a chronicle of the decline and fall of the American male. What do you think is meant by this? Can you see this theme at work in "Separating"? 2. In many ways Beattie's world resembles Updike's; both present us with couples who are fundamentally unstable and unhappy, and both are firmly realistic in their depiction of setting and character. What differences do you see between them? Can these differences be attributed to gender, or is this too simplistic? 3. Is it possible to read “Cathedral” in a positive way? Can we see the main character as achieving any kind of real insight or knowledge? More broadly, what meanings does the story itself suggest to you? Is it possible to see the blind man (or the cathedral, or anything else in the story) as a significant symbol, and if so, of what?