Paul's Experience: A Fictional Narrative

Coming to Tangerine Middle was “quite the ride” for Paul. Paul was able to see how the Tangerine students are really like to compare to the dirty image that they have on them. First of all, transferring to this school has made Paul develop confidence in himself to speak the truth, which builds up a strong relationship with his teammates. Yet Paul still can’t get over his main fear, Erik. Although it may look like Paul grew an enormous amount, mentally in the novel, he still has a long way to go in order to face Erik. At the end of Part 2, Edward Bloor expresses Paul’s growth, emotionally in a strong way.

The choices that Erik made throughout his life never came without consequences, many of his choices, whether they were choices directed to him or not, affected Paul. Paul illustrates this idea by saying, “When we moved to Houston, when Erik was eleven, he realized that football was the star attraction,”(Bloor 29) This is talking about the “birth” of the “Erik Fisher Football Dream”; Erik use to play soccer and was successful at it, but he realized that football was the place to be if he wanted attention. Paul could’ve started playing soccer at that time as well and Erik didn’t want to risk being outshined by his younger brother. Another way Erik affected Paul, in a more indirect way, was when Arthur becomes Erik’s crony, “What will Arthur do

What had so upset me about my day with Paul? Before then nothing in my personal, academic, or volunteer experiences had shaken my single-minded commitment to medicine. Why was I so unprepared for what I saw? Was it the proximity of death, knowing Paul was terminal? No it couldn’t have been. As a young

glimpses of Paul trying to reach out and re-embrace his old thoughts and emotions and

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

Link- Paul is able to find a permanent escape from all Cordelia Street and all the other things he despises.

Paul and his friends realized how much people are dying and risking their lives for something that could been prevented

In Paul's true reality he has a lack of interest in school. His disinterest in school stems from the alienation and isolation he has in

As long as Paul could remember he had his giant glasses on and was told he couldn’t see without them. But even though Paul can see fine without them. Paul, unfortunately, deals with this on a day to day basis. We discover who Paul is and how significant events changed him. Paul also experiences switching schools. We see how Paul sees the world and his perspective on certain events.

Paul used to write poems and plays. He was just like any teenager, he liked to talk about girls while drinking a beer with his close friends. Which is exactly why Remarque wanted to bring back flashbacks of how things used to be to show us that Paul wasn’t always insensitive and careless. “Their stillness is the reason why these memories of former times do not awaken desire so much as sorrow-a vast, inapprehensible melancholy. Once we had such desires-but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us.” (Remarque, 121) In this quote especially Remarque is try to show us that Paul was having flashbacks of memories that happened before the war . Although these memories as Paul said “ do not awaken desire so much as sorrow-a-vest,” (Remarque, 121) which means these flashbacks make him realize that he’s lost all of his hopes and dreams, because he no longer is able to chase after his dreams, but instead he has to fight in the German army to protect his country, and to make his family proud of him for being a “hero” as they’d like to call him

“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 leaves the elevator, and as he walks down the hallway toward his apartment the song "A Spoonful of Sugar" becomes louder and louder.

Paul was sent to the principal's office; after he has been suspended from his high school in Pittsburgh on different accounts of misdemeanors. Paul was wearing a red carnation in his buttonhole, and that particularly offends the faculty members who think the flower sums up his flippant attitude. His teachers have a difficult time articulating their true feelings about Paul, deep down, they believe that Paul does not want to be in school. They lash out at Paul, but he shows no emotion and smirks throughout the barrage of criticism, which only proves their theory. The teachers depart shortly after; they feel embarrassed about their viciousness toward Paul. “His teachers left the building dissatisfied and unhappy; humiliated to have felt so vindictive toward a mere boy…”(Cather). In the end, it is the principal who speaks with Paul’s father where he is informed that Paul is forbidden to return to school. The discontinuation of Paul’s high school career may have made him feel less alienated since his peers had been making him feel just as secluded. Paul’s love for Carnegie Hall was where he felt most important. Paul would lie about his experiences to his classmates in hopes of them wanting to befriend him. “He had never lied with pleasure, even at

In Conclusion, we clearly have seen that Paul’s hope was laid in the future resurrection which he would attain. Though his opponents claimed that the afflictions which he had gone through discredited him as a faithful apostle, Paul knew very well that is why he is willing let his body suffer affliction and bruising for the sake of taking the gospel to the Corinthians. Paul could do this because he had a hope of a future resurrection where the weak tent where he presently resided in would be replaced by a dwelling from God. This dwelling would be an eternal residence so that he would not have to exist in a bodiless state. Thus, he fulfilled the callings of his ministry with courage. Because he knew that he would have to stand before the judgment

However, the present unknown opens up a new possibility for Paul and urges anew the creative artist in his being. In fact, before losing all of his beloveds, Paul successfully draws out the necessary vitality from them: