Cathedral" and "Flight Patterns

The historical and cultural context of “Cathedral”.
    Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” appears to have taken place in the Northeastern part of the United States, possibly New York. I came to this conclusion because the blind man was visiting his late wife’s relatives in Connecticut and was traveling five hours by train to visit the narrator and his wife. The narrator also makes a comment about sitting on the right side of the train when traveling to New York and sitting on the left side of the train when traveling from New York and the view while traveling along the Hudson. The time period appears to be the late 1960’s to early 1970’s. My assumption of the time period is based on the fact they were discussing color TVs and black and white TVs. While color TVs first appeared in the 1950’s it was not until the late 1960’s that they became popular with average households due to the cost. The TV also had no remote control since the narrator had to get up to change the channel and the station went off at a certain time during the night. Another indication of time can be made from the narrator and the blind man smoking pot. During the 1970’s was the era of the hippies. Pot smoking was a normal thing to do therefore, when the blind man was offered pot, he was not offended as this was normal during that time period. The narrator and his wife appear to be in their late 20’s to early 30’s and the blind man is forty eight years old. Based on the age of the wife when she went to work for the blind man, she was 18 and the story talks about a decade going by since they first met. They were more than likely Caucasian based on the reaction of the wife when the narrator asked if the blind man’s wife was a Negro because of her name being Beulah.
What is the narrator’s attitude toward the visit of the blind man? Why is he so threatened by the idea of that visit? How might the blind man threaten his worldview and/or values?
    The narrator’s attitude toward the visit of the blind...