The moment of epiphany is the climax of a short story and it has to be unique and unexpected in order to produce the

desired effect both upon a character and a reader. The revelation, this feeling of realization and comprehension of something crucial concerns not only character's self'-awareness but also reveals some kind of truth about the reality and a deeper meaning of the world. Joseph Conrad sees epiphany as a process in which reader plays a very important role. The epiphany is experienced not only by a character but also by the audience. The author leaves the interpretation of the events presented in the short story to a reader but also expects him/her to notice some important issue which he wanted to portray and draw attention to. The goal of the epiphany, apart from the one significant for the compositional purpose, is to force a reader to think about the subject of short story and to evoke a sort of epiphany within him/her as well. The efficient application of epiphany is visible in the works of Raymond Carver and Edward Morgan Forster The Cathedral and The Road From Colonus, respectively. I would like to take a look at how these writers construct epiphanies in their stories and what message they try to convey by it. In The Cathedral the action is presented by the first-person narrator who describes the visit of his wife's blind friend, Robert. The narrator is not really in favour of the visit because he is somehow uncomfortable with the idea of spending time together with a blind man. He does not have any specific information about blind men, and his assumptions are based on some stereotypes and prejudices. The fact that a person cannot see is something incomprehensible to him and he looks down on such people. He speaks in condescending manner about Robert and imagines his life as miserable because of his inability to see. The narrator thinks that blind men live the poor, pointless and unproductive existence and he cannot picture Robert and his wife being happy together, while she was still alive. He even feels sorry for her because she was not seen by Robert and thus he could not love her for what she looked like. The narrator represents a man who lives in the materialistic world, the world of vision. He does not understand poetry and does not think about life in some kind of spiritual way but rather in the sensual one. He can experience only what he can perceive through his eyes, and he is sure that the ability to see alone, makes him a better person than Robert is. The things change when Robert asks him to draw a cathedral on the sheet of paper for him, as he has no idea what a cathedral looks like. The narrator draws a building with Robert's hand upon his and after a while he closes his eyes while still drawing when Robert tells him to do so. And at this moment he experiences something unexpected. He gets this kind of feeling that he never felt before in his entire life. Sudden realization came to him when he had his eyes closed. The author does not state clearly what specifically the epiphany is about. We, the audience, may suspect that

the narrator became aware of the fact that there is more than meets the eye in the surrounding world, that there is some deeper, invisible to human eye, meaning in everything material. He discovers this other aspect of reality, this completely different dimension which he never saw before, because he was blind to those things. The paradox of this event and what makes it very surprising and unexpected is the fact that it is Robert, a blind man, who helps the narrator gain this experience. The choice of narrator is also quite significant, as a reader gets to know what the narrator thinks about the concept of physical blindness and how it corresponds to his spiritual blindness and the revelation that occurs to him. The two contrast figures, of Robert and the narrator, enhance the subject of the story even more. The conclusion, which is clearly left for a reader to make by himself, is the need to confront the two aspects of our lives and think what kind of perception of the world, oneself, and other human beings is really important. The epiphany in The Road from Colonus deals with the issue of conflict between following the rules of modern, also as in The Cathedral, materialistic life and the spiritual illumination, selfawareness, nonconformity. Mr. Lucas finds the destination of his life in Greece during his journey. When he reaches the inside of the tree and stands there alone, he experiences a spiritual revelation. He is able to see that the life he led is different from the one he desired to live and that the place in which he is right now is the one where he wants to stay and confront his destiny. The magical aura of the place influences his thinking and perception of himself but also of the reality in which he existed. He longs to stay, but eventually is forced by his companions, the representatives of the world which he wants to abandon, to leave his Colonus - the place where he could have been reconciled with his life and himself and face his fate with full awareness and recognition of it. In the latter part of the story Mr. Lucas is presented as a different person, the one who finally conformed to the rules of the modern world and society. He is merely an old man, a bitter and idle person annoyed by trivial things. He is no longer the man he was during the moment of his epiphany, as the road from his Colonus took him back to the life he truly despised and the one that made him discontented, where he lost his self-awareness and the true understanding of the reality. He also lost his chance to die with dignity and the feeling of peace. This epiphany is quite different in meaning for the character and for a reader. I think that I have already explained what the moment of epiphany meant to Mr. Lucas, thus I would like to think about the message conveyed for the audience. In my opinion, the story is the criticism of the modern approach to reality. The world in which Mr. Lucas have lived was full of materialism, rules etiquette, things you should do and thing you should not. This kind of reality is in fact artificial and does not offer a person the chance to find his/her true inner self. Living according to what people

expect form one is dull and miserable and leaves one without the choice of what is best for him/her and the chance to fulfil oneself.