Analysis Of Willa Cather 's ' Paul 's Case '

He takes his obsession of proving to his peers how special he is by showing them “autographed pictures of all the members of the stock company…telling them of his familiarity with these people” (Cather 219). However, in actuality, his contact and similarities with the actors of Carnegie Hall is minimal, and he remains an outsider. He is removed from the actual life of these people, but feels he is engaged in it. By thinking of himself extraordinarily, but having no aspirations, Paul becomes “the adolescent longing for something-anything-different. Defiantly unproductive, he fails to “develop” himself” (Herring). Paul ignores his lack of talents and focuses his sense of superiority above the population of Pittsburgh to his interpersonal relations with the actors at Carnegie Hall in New York City. While Paul may have no talent, or desire for talent, he continues to exhibit his egocentrism behind a cover of arrogance and lack of empathy.

“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather is set in Cordelia Street of Pittsburgh and then in New York, telling of Paul who is unhappy with his life and yearns for the elite and cultured. Considering “Paul’s Case” as a dramatisation of being bi-polar, both the setting and symbolism of the short story becomes two of the most important elements demonstrate it.

Sometimes in movie production a film is developed from a piece of literature. Directors will use the plot of a book either to create a unique movie, or to give the audience a chance to see what their favorite book is like when acted out on the screen. Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" is a good example of a work adapted to video. The movie has slight differences from the book, but the director Lamont Johnson follows the original closely.

1. Paulie Calafiore - Well, it just seems he is marching his way to victory and no one cares. Paulie has the entire house in the palm of his hands and they will do whatever he states. Paul did his dirty work for him this week by taking Da 'vonne out for him, someone who was loyal to Paul and not coming after him. Props to the game that Paulie is playing, but I feel the double eviction is where he is he most vulnerable.

In her short story "Paul's Case," Willa Cather tells the tale of a young boy's struggle to separate himself from his common, everyday life and the people he shared it with. Paul admired the opulence of the theater, the wardrobe, the perfumes, the lights, the colors, the flowers, and the champagne. When he realized it wasn't possible to have these things, he threw his life away. Cather's purpose was to show that, by focusing on what he didn't have, Paul could not live at all.

Imposed expectations, social pressures and uniformity are also thematic concerns paralleled in “Paul’s Case”. Paul, like the girl, is an aspiring individualist, trapped in the conformist-stricken city of Pittsburg. The setting, for one, is a time where wealth and industry ruled the nation. Paul is secluded to the “tepid waters” of Cordelia Street, a microcosm of the “commonness” of the world he despises. Cordelia is depicted as a “respectable street”, where “all the houses are exactly alike” and where “all of whom are exactly as their homes.” This young boy wishes to deviate from the “accepted” view that education is key and every son must follow in his father’s footsteps. Paul thrives on being a “model usher” at a local theatre as opposed to devoting himself to arithmetic and school. While his father wants him to be a “model man”, looked upon as a “man with a

When Paul, the main character, decides to abandon his childhood home to travel to his ideal city of New York, he eventually succumbs to the bitter reality of his own struggle with depression. “It was the old depression exaggerated; all the world had become Cordelia Street” (Cather 21). In Paul’s Case, by Willa Cather, the author writes of the depression-ridden Paul who attempted to convince himself that his appreciation and admiration of his dreams were nothing less than ideal, but they ultimately morphed into obsessions that failed. Despite Paul’s limited glimpses into his greatest hopes of living a life well beyond his current lifestyle, it was one he eventually realized he could never attain. Paul believed he could convince himself and the world, that Cordelia Street was where he started, but the lavish life of a New Yorker would be where he—not only deserved to be—but where he was meant to be. Despite his efforts, he ultimately fell. The aspects that made Paul resent Cordelia Street were aspects he discovered everywhere else—including New York City.

The antagonist of this story is Paul’s father who just wants his son to be normal. Through out the story, only one side of Paul’s father is shown. This means that Paul’s father is a flat character. Paul’s father is a strict man and expects more out of Paul. But more is easier said then done because of Paul’s deep depression that everyone sees but does nothing about. When Cather writes, “his father called at the principle…” on page one, this shows that Paul’s father does want what is best for him by calling the school to explain Paul’s behavior. Also, on page nine, Cather writes, “… the young man who was daily held up to Paul as a model….” This quote shows that Paul’s Father has it in

The short story “Paul’s Case”, written by Willa Cather, follows the life of Paul, a narcissistic daydreamer who suffers from depression. Many people disregard the weather as an important part of the setting, however, it is a major point of symbolism in “Paul’s Case” as well as an explanation for Paul’s feelings. Paul’s moods mirror and are effected by the weather in which he is living, winter, and are equally effected by allusions of spring.

Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” is a story about a young 16 year-old man, Paul, who is motherless and alienated. Paul’s lack of maternal care has led to his alienation. He searches for the aesthetics in life that that he doesn’t get from his yellow wallpaper in his house and his detached, overpowering father figure in his life. Paul doesn’t have any interests in school and his only happiness is in working at Carnegie Hall and dreams of one-day living the luxurious life in New York City. Paul surrounds himself with the aesthetics of music and the rich and wealthy, as a means to escape his true reality.

Paul also openly criticizes conformity frequently throughout the story. Paul’s criticisms can be seen in his detailed observations of people and their routines. However, none of these criticisms compare to Paul’s hate for his home on Cordelia Street. Cather describes Cordeila Street, noting that all the houses are identical, as well as its inhabitants. Following the description of the street, Cather describes Paul’s hatred for his mediocrity plagued home is expressed: “Paul never went up Cordelia Street without a shudder of loathing… he approached it to-night with the nerveless sense of defeat, the hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home”(Pg. 5). Later on in the story, while Paul is in New York and is contemplating his fear of being reprimanded for his actions, he constantly reminds himself of the painful existence that awaits him on Cordelia Street: “It was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever. The grey monotony stretched before him in hopeless, unrelieved years”(Pg. 13). Cather seems to use Cordiela street as a all-encompassing metaphor for conformist society; and Paul’s individuality and hate for Cordiela Street serves as the contrasting element, in turn becoming the most

After being forced to leave his job as an usher at Carnegie Hall Paul gets a job working at Denny and Carson's office firm. He gets the money to go to New York City by taking the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank from Denny and Carson's deposit and pockets it. Paul arrives in New York and lives the luxurious life by buying fancy clothes and checking into a nice hotel. After eight days in New York his fun runs out when he discovers in the Pittsburgh papers that his father had reimbursed the firm and was coming to get him. "Paul had just come in to dress for dinner; he sank into a chair, weak to the knees, and clasped his head in his hands. It was worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever" (Cather 11). After succeeding

In Paul’s Case, Willa Cather uses the metaphor of Cordelia Street to demonstrate the hopelessness and entrapment that Paul feels, therefore suggesting the impossibility of homosexual love at this time in history. Cordelia Street, in comparison to what Paul sees in New York City is desolate, dismal, and oppressive. Although he only

Willa Cather's "Paul's Case," displays the conflict between conformity and individuality through the main character, Paul. On a number of occasions, Paul is forced to lie and steal to escape the conformists who wish to control him and stifle his unique imagination. However, his lying, stealing, and attempts to escape the conformists, only force Paul into isolation, depression, and feeling a sense of shame for his individuality. Throughout the story one might see Cather's constant contrast of individuality versus conformity, as well as Paul's lying and stealing. Cather seems to draw the conclusion that extreme individuals, much like Paul are simply misunderstood, and not offered the acceptance they desire

1. Willa Cather seems to take issue with the bland and boring nature of realism above all else. She notes that realism is not in itself an artistic expression, yet so many art forms from literature to paintings—particularly from her time period—portray little more than the realism of our world. In her mind, the literalness that is realism can be successfully integrated in art, but it must be done in a specific way for it to qualify as true art. The literalism needs to fuse with the emotions and experiences of the characters and simply remain as a simple component of the artistic experience rather than the entire focus. The novelists and other artists of her time that she mentions and feels have placed too much focus on realism in their work are not real artists in her mind. Overall it seems that Cather believed that the growing prominence of realism within art forms in her time was leading to their downfall and their loss of true artistic expression. As she stated within “The Novel Démeublé,”If the novel is a form of imaginative art, it cannot be at the same time a vivid and brilliant form of journalism” (par. 7). Through this quote, she is essentially getting her aforementioned message across by comparing realism in art to mere journalism—the mere relaying of facts and realities without a shred of creativity or imagination