Essay on Paul 's Unhealthy Desire in Paul's Case

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

Lawrence shows many points by applying these obvious symbols: the rocking horse and the whispering house. The wooden rocking horse symbolizes the fantasy quest that Paul takes to attain luck. This magical mysterious wooden horse also tells Paul who will win the horse races. The whispering house symbolizes his mother’s lust for money. The house constantly haunts Paul and his siblings with the

When Paul finds out that he was being tracked down, he uses what is left of the stolen money to escape into the countryside where he finds an overpass and ends up jumping in front of a train to end his life.

Symbols are one of those most important things to a story. They share the meaning of themselves, as well as the meaning for something else. Symbols usually make the important ideas stick out as well as make the reader have different ideas of what is actually being said. One of the many symbols in “Paul’s Case” is flower’s. From violets to carnations, the flowers Paul talks about are ones of many meanings. The flowers represent a continual motif, expressing Paul’s character.

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

     Paul D. was just starting his new freedom. His journey to the North from the South provided him with the most important experience of his life. He hid and received advice from many helpers. He was told by Cherokees to “follow the tree flowers” (119) to get to the North. Flowers are known to be beautiful and colorful objects. As Paul D treks to the North, he is following the flowers to his freedom.

Paul was never content with his house on Cordelia Street and was always dreaming about "movin' on up" while he worked at Carnegie Hall and watched the actors and actresses move about in their stately attire and live in the most luxurious of hotel suites. Because of this dream to get out of the area in which he lived, Paul hardly ever got along with his teachers and his father. The thought of taking full advantage of

in his quest to the live the life he always wanted, Paul not wanting to face his father and his true reality takes his own life by jumping in front of a train. He could not live with

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.

With his whimsical, eccentric, and somewhat selfish outlook on life, every reader could relate—in one way or another—to Willa Cather’s protagonist in “Paul’s Case.” Paul, who just believed he was misunderstood, was continuously perceived as diverse and bizarre by his peers, neighbors, and even his own father. By not taking any interest in the dull, drab, and dim everyday life of the average person in Pittsburgh, Paul was consistently criticized and belittled by others. Along with not enjoying the typical endeavors as the average “normal” boy his age, Paul also grew up without a mother; therefore, Paul really did not receive any kind of parental love or affection. To add to it all, Willa Cather stereotypically portrayed Paul as being homosexual throughout the entire story.

In his journey North, Paul D would "scan the horizon for a flash of pink or white...[or] blossoming plums" (Morrison 113).  By having Paul D search for colorful flowers, Morrison illustrates Paul D's desire for a life full of safety, enjoyment, and freedom.

During this time, Paul contemplates a plan to ask his father for a cab fare. He will tell his father that the money is to make it over to his friend’s house, when he is really planning on making his way to New York City. This escape to New York City is a way out of his life that he is struggling to get through. “The east-bound train was ploughing through a January snowstorm...” (Cather). Now, aboard a train to New Jersey, Paul is longing for the beauty of New York. After the train stops in Newark, Paul hopes to spend a night or two in town and then get on board another train that will take him to New York. The time part of the setting impacts the story greatly, since the story is based in the winter. Winter represents the end of things in literature and it is in this winter, that Paul goes on to commit suicide.

In the beginning, the narrator recounts regrets the presence of "more than a hundred dollars of [cut lilies]" (1). The purple and white flowers cover the room, and the narrator thinks of all the vases he will need for them. The poems shifts to focus on the narrator’s memories; reminiscing about the children he used to see at Sevilla's Easter, a celebration in Spain, the narrator recalls how once he ran through marshes with skunk cabbage. As night grows near and Easter ends, the room darkens and the saccharin scent

On the village’s land, there are more beautiful flowers than before. Before there are flowers on the land, there are no flowers at all. The village is a dull land and the villagers “were going to break their backs digging for springs among the stones and plant flowers” (3). The beautiful flowers and its fragrance will allure nearby sailors. The flowers are planted to represent the splendor

Paul noticed all of the life around him. All of it moved, grew, and lived independently of each other, but all of it was connected. Paul found it fascinating.