Essay on Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament by Willa Cather

128). Built environment includes his family home, the dining hall, church building, and treatment agency. Societal factors impacted Paul at a young age, he had few friends and was ridiculed by his peers due to “looking” different. Paul has experienced a shift in social interaction in the past year due to the death of his father. Paul’s father was instrumental in setting limits in a firm yet gentle way, now Paul’s main interaction is with his mother and those within the dining hall.

"Paul's Case", by Cather, is a story in which Paul, an adolescent, is trying to find himself. Unlike Hemingway, Cather exposes the influence of a stable but cold environment to be detrimental to one's well being. Paul's dilemma begins with school, a place he is not fond of. His teachers have a strong disliking of Paul. This is seen at his readmittance inquiry "… they fell upon him without mercy, his English teacher leading the pack" (161). Paul's inner struggle is recognized by only one teacher, the drawing master. "The drawing master had come to realize that, in looking at Paul, one saw only his white teeth and forced animation of his eyes" (162). He also noted the time Paul had fallen asleep in class, "what a white, blue veined face it was; drawn and wrinkled like an old man's about the eyes, lips twitching even in his sleep" (162). This observation clues us that Paul is not a happy-go-lucky teenager; there is an inner battle going on.

Furthermore, during New York, Paul’s feelings of being unloved and unwanted, as a result of this trauma, worsen. While in New York, Paul meets “a wild San Francisco boy”, a freshman at Yale, who said he had run down for a "little flyer" over Sunday. The young man offered to show Paul

Many clues were given that Paul dreamed of leaving town. For instance, he was exhilarated by the Venetian scenes and streets of Paris depicted in the picture gallery. He loved to listen to his father speak of "palaces

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.

Before Paul was in the war, his obsession and passion was reading books. Throughout the book, the books remain to be Paul’s main hobby, he is unable to sit down and experience that happiness, taking a toll on his happiness. As Paul thinks about his childhood in comparison to what the front line has shown, Paul states “I want to to feel the same powerful,

Paul has very little interest in his class studies. Although Paul's appearance is that of a perfect gentleman, his teachers find his behavior inappropriate and unacceptable. They have no understanding of Paul's behavior and do not wish to learn. How others perceive Paul only encourages him to fulfill his dream of escaping his monotonous lifestyle. Paul is longing for

As Paul goes on leave and is able to visit his home and family, his books, his escape during childhood, he longs for the past. During Paul’s leave, one may see his true craving for his youthful years to reappear when Paul says, “speak to me… Life of my Youth… receive me again-” (172). Paul becomes more aware that war causes paralysis to run over his soft heart as he visits home. Paul avoids discussion with his family or lies and says, “No, Mother… it isn’t so bad” (161). The burden simple conversation brings Paul illustrates how he feels he needs emotional distance from these experiences.

Diya Moliki Dr. Nancy Kang English 250 November 20, 2014 Heroism Role in Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” and Richard Wright’s “A Separate Road” The word hero is usually applied to the individuals who are dedicated to make difference in their life, community and the world. Therefore, committing heroism through being a hero is viewed as a comprehensively valued characteristic. However, heroism is frequently viewed as a rare and inherent characteristic, and hence does not exhibit in many individuals. This heroism train is portrayed in A Separate Road and Paul’s Case.

Whenever he is facing something troubling, Paul always seems to go to something that symbolizes spring. After being bereted by his teachers, Paul goes to work early to look at the painting “Paul possessed himself of the place and walked confidently up and down, whistling under his breath. After a while he sat before a blue Rico and lost himself” (178). Simply focusing on the bright, and vibrant colors of the paintings seem to be a euphoric release for Paul, and so is listening to the lively music of Carnegie Hall: “He felt a sudden zest of life; the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor” (178). There is always happy music played in the spring. After Paul’s father takes away all of Paul’s joy, all of his escapes, Paul finds no other choice but to steal away and find the life he has always wanted to live. Paul goes on a search for happiness and finds it in bright colorful New York City. The atmosphere brings Paul to life. Paul is surrounded by flowers, the most recognizable symbol of spring, bright colors, and happy people. He finally feels like he belongs: “He could not remember a time when he had felt so at peace with

In Paul’s world, “the nature always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty” many of his actions are triggered by this view on life. In fact this prospective is what provoked him to become so self-destructive and withdraw and chiefly determines the ending. As mentioned above, indulging in art was only one of his ways of escaping the reality, death is another option. Much before his suicidal act in New-York, he devotes a whole night picturing what it would be like if his father accidentally kills him as a bugler. More disturbingly, he also imagines what happens if one day his father regrets not killing him. Paul is constantly bugged by fear, but never the less , he considers death as an ideal solution to life. Even at the finest moment of his life, when he prepares to go to New-york, Paul still buys a pistol so that he is entirely ready to take away his miserable life at any moment.

“He could not bear to have the other pupils think, for a moment, that he took these people seriously; he must convey to them that he considered it all trivial.” (238) Paul desperately wanted to portray himself as above everyone else, even at the beginning of the story when Paul was in the principal’s office he “entered the room suave and smiling” (231). There was an air of arrogance about him; he wore a red carnation and a tie to set himself apart from the other people in the room as if he were more refined than they were. Meanwhile, it was all an act, once the meeting was over “Paul ran down the hill whistling…looking wildly behind him now and then to see whether some of his teachers were not there to writhe under his light-heartedness.” (233) Even at the end once Paul realizes that he has been discovered, he never seems to consider the destruction he has caused, he is not remorseful that his father had to pay for his theft. Paul’s thoughts were purely on himself. “it was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia street were to close over him finally and forever.”

Paul Fisher was a boy who really shaped his life. Now Paul really learned from his mistakes and thats what made him change his life. Paul Fisher was a boy who had a Mom Mrs. Fisher, a Dad Mr. Fisher, and his older Brother Erik. Paul started his life by making really bad and poor decisions, but now his life has changed because he is making good life choices.

Paul’s materialism has a number of manifestations that, when looked at closely, reveal the protagonist’s deep dissatisfaction with himself and his life. One of them is his inconsideration toward his family. Throughout the narrative, Paul’s father and sisters are only mentioned as a part of the disturbing setting. Paul does not possess emotional attachment to his relatives, neither does he care about their feelings or well-being. The main character only points out

Nobody there really knew—or cared to know—much about the arts and the theater; ultimately, everybody was accustomed to their simple and dismal lifestyles. To become like the hard-working neighbor who his father constantly boasted about repulsed Paul; he despised the idea of settling down and working at the steel magnate like most of his neighbors (Cather pg. 5). Paul’s unrealistic dreams were based on a misunderstanding and ignorant view of the world of theater; he believed he would barely have to work when he joined the art world, unlike his hardworking neighbors. Ironically, the professionals in the art world actually worked more diligent and intensely than those in his hometown. If Paul truly knew how grueling the art world could be, he may have seen his situation on Cordelia Street more desirable than to begin