Paul's Case

We find out that Paul's mom had given up everything just to be able to have Paul in custody. Both of Paul's parents chose with passion. His mother had a Passion for Paul which is what motivated her to trade everything for paul. Paul's father had a passion for money which is what allowed the father to be able to disown his child, No communication or visitations. A Lot like Paul's passion to only fear them to reality with the bomb, where Charlie wanted to harm, destroy, and tear apart the room, people, and his grade. The lack of responsibility in Paul's lead to criminal acts that held consequences he could have avoided if only he ignored his passion to be popular.

Today I will be discussing the prevalent theme in the novel of Paul's journey to reach maturity, the importance other characters whom he interacts with played in the development of his character and

After Paul’s wife suicide, his life dramatically changes and he finds himself lost in a foreign, yet known, city. The despair drives Paul to find a shelter to comfort himself, far away from everything that could remind him of Rose, his now-deceased wife.

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.

He realizes just like his father and his mother he is using drug and alcohol to cope with his pain is slowly killing them. Paul still didn’t know if he wants to live or die so he flirts with the idea of death, but he stops himself at the last second.

In "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather, Paul becomes aware of the fact that his life is not exactly what could be called "liveable." His physical home leaves something to be desired, his teachers clearly dislike him, and his father is not the "model" father. Paul feels that these things are unjust and detrimental to his life. Due to the unjust things in his life, he decides to rid himself of them by running away. Later on when he decides to kill himself, he showcases his possession of the cardinal virtues. Paul's decision to kill himself is just, and therefore moderate, wise, and courageous.

By the end of the story, we know a number of reasons for his action: the death of his mother, his desire to connect with the upper class, his unrealistic love for the fine art, his homosexual trends, his separation from the world, and his incredible thirst for money. Paul was very self-centered and vain. He only cared for himself and not how his actions would affect others.

When he is reunited with his mother "[they] say very little," but when she finally asks him if it was "very bad out there" Paul lies. In trying to protect her by lying, Paul creates a separation between his mother and himself. As Paul sees it, the tragedies and horrors of war are not for the uninitiated. Sadly, the true nature of war further separates the two generations.

the love and care he unknowingly needs. Paul takes on roles that disguise his own traits and turns him into what he believes to be a person nobody can say no to. When he takes on these roles, he

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 at the beginning of the school year made choices that helped him “fit in” more. “It was Erik.” Paul says that Erik tried to kill him, which made his parents think that he is insane, and blaming everything on Paul page. 3. “I expected different.” This showed that Paul thought the house was gonna be different as well as the move page. 2-6. Finally, “I put on my glasses, there was a loud bang.” Showing that he heard a loud noise, and was affected by it happening. Paul has tried to grow as a character, and he started from being a wimp, to becoming a bold character.

Paul's father had abused him emotionally, and probably physically, throughout Paul's life. He did so much to Paul's flagging self-image that he had to boast to others to make himself feel big, when he felt tiny inside. When he finally achieved that "bigness" that he always wanted, the glamour of "the good life," his father found him out and took that away from him, or rather, made Paul give it up. This made Paul feel even smaller and made him feel that he would be better off dead. So Paul decided to make his life "better off" and

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

When Paul returns to his town for leave, he sees just how warped everyone else's view is on the current situation of the war. A teacher from his old school talks to him about the war that is filled with death and violence as

Paul finally escaped the hostile world he lived in, but his money-bought romance did not last long. When he discovers that his theft has been made known in the new papers, and all the stolen money has ran out, he knew he had to go back to his real life. After a week of having the glamorized life he was longing for, Paul refused to go back to face the reality that he left behind in Pittsburgh. Paul knew he couldn’t go on forever in the City with no money in his pockets so he decided to give up on his own life. While going to get on his train that would bring him back to reality, Paul stepped out in front of it and killed himself.