Willa Cather's Character Analysis: Paul As An Outlawed Hero

It is as if Paul lives in the sun and knowledge of the world, baring that burden while others in society live in darkness with slight sliver of light from the moon believing they know the world to its full extent when in reality they are blind and in the dark. This affects Paul since he possess ideas from another point of view that others have no clue about. This is important because without the knowledge that Paul posses, he would be like his none the wiser parents, which would affect the story a great deal. For example, on page 152, Paul tells his friend, “Don’t do this. Don’t come in here with attitude.” Paul knows how to adapt to the places around him and knows that by accepting the facts and the brunt of the blow, they will accept him begin to

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

How Forgetting Affect’s Paul On psychologytoday.com they say that selective memory, or dissociative amnesia, is “one of several dissociative disorders that mentally separate a person from some aspect of their self, following some sort of trauma or severe stress”. This is saying that selective memory is when someone experiences a traumatic event, so they will forget something, or everything, about that event because of the trauma. In the novel Tangerine, the main character Paul has the most obvious case of selective memory out of all the characters. This book is about a visually impaired boy named Paul who moved with his family to Tangerine, Florida and cannot remember how he damaged his eyesight.

Edward Bloor made Paul seem like that quiet and more to himself kind of kid but he’s actually the one who sees what’s going on around him and everyone else. On page 64 it says, “I said to myself, There goes another one of your koi, Mr.Costello”. This texts shows that Paul is actually seeing the truth of the osprey taking their community fish but the homeowners are assuming that people are taking the fish and selling them. But instead of not telling anyone about the osprey and the koi fish he just sits back and doesn’t say anything. In the beginning Paul is invisible to everybody and nobody listens to him because he’s that “blind” kid that people ignore at first.

throughout the novel Paul sees lies and pushes himself to find the truth. “I used to tell people that I once stared too long at a solar eclipse. But if that's the truth, if that really happened, why can't I remember it?” (39) This quote shows the time where Paul sees a lie in his past. because of this Paul is motivated 2 uncover the truth. this gives him a newly found confidence and he ultimately ends up understanding the truth in his past. Similarly Paul again these lies. he feels the need to go deeper, “ I yanked off my coke bottle glasses and shook them at him in Rage.’ There are questions that need to be answered about these! Am I such a stupid idiot fool that I stared at a solar eclipse for an hour and blinded myself? Is that who I am? And I am I an idiot?’” (264) Quotes all leave enormous live and demands the truth. Upon gaining this truth he get self appreciation and understands his past. Examples show site and how it helps Paul deepen his understanding of

Moreover Paul was forced to feel the guilt at a young age, causing him to become frustrated, and that is when he decides to escape from Deptford and runs away with Le grand Cirque forain des St. Vite (Davies, 148), “‘He was my only teacher till I ran away with a circus.’” (Davies, 265).

At the beginning of the book, Paul is an outcast, “Hey, Eclipse Boy,” and is never noticed, except by a few people, “Unfortunately, nobody… paid much attention to me.” At first, Paul is a person no one really notices or cares about him, not even his own Dad. Almost Everyone is more focused on his evil older brother, Erik. Paul is also almost always cowardice, “I’m

A choice made by Paul affected him because he decided to tell on Tino, Victor, and Hernando for vandalising the carnival, and he told Tino about him ratting them out and Tino got pay back.” Well, I’m the one who ratted you out. They accused some of the Lake Windsor soccer players of wrecking that exhibit. The Ax Man? I’m the one who told them it was the Tangerine Middle soccer players.”(pg 175). That

It was his anger about Luis’ death that enabled Paul to make this confession. When the cops came to arrest Arthur for being linked to the death of Luis, “[Paul] stood up straight and faced them all, like [he] had seen Luis do. ‘I saw-I heard Erik Fisher tell him to do it’”(276). The guilt inside Paul over Luis’ death quickly turned into anger when Arthur’s father tried to convince the cops that Arthur was innocent. Paul gained this courage because of the presence of the many adults and officers who were around, making sure that Erik could not get revenge on Paul. The book implied that Erik was going to jail when the officer said “You keep this young man in the house-not in the neighborhood, not in the yard-in the house. I may call or come back at any time and I expect him to be here”(276). When Paul confessed, he changed his entire life, because his parents would no longer act as if Erik were the standard that Paul had to meet. This also helped Paul prove to his parents that Erik was a terrible person deep down and not destined for greatness the way his parents thought. Paul was brave for standing up to Erik in front of his family and the police. Most importantly, Paul exposed Erik for what he really was-a cold-hearted person who didn’t deserve all the attention that he received for being a great football

enters peoples houses and surrounds himself with what they have and for a moment he is able to pretend that what they have belongs to him. Paul creates a new identity for himself as

Paul stole more than $1000, enough to live for a month in New York City, at the time of the story, and only if spent cautiously. But, no... Paul would have none of that. It would have been a waste to have more money than he had ever seen in his life, and yet live just as he had throughout his life. He wanted to live in style, the way the rich folks did. So, Paul spent the money within a week on all the best clothes, the best food, the best hotel room, the best flowers, and the best life. The money disappeared within a week and Paul was forced to leave it all behind and return to the dreariness of middle class existence.

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

In Paul’s true reality he has a lack of interest in school. His disinterest in school stems

The protagonist in Willa Cather's short story, "Paul's Case," is adolescent named Paul. Paul's problem is that he has trouble following rules. Paul has a problem with various kinds of authorities including his teachers, principal, and father. From Paul's perspective, his problem is society. Society does not conform to him and repeatedly makes attempts on him to conform to it. Paul is disgusted, repulsed, and bored by middle class life in Pittsburgh. Paul's real problem is that he lacks perspective. This is a young man that is ferociously hungry for life outside of a small town or small city, which is partially the reason why he steals $1,000 and flees to New York City. Paul does not have an appropriate outlet through which to explore and channel his exuberant and odd energy. It is only when he is committing suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train that he is capable of imagining a life both outside of the life he left behind, but not so far outside in the margins of society that cannot be a contributing member of society. Paul craves new experiences that expand his horizons and challenge him in ways unknown to him in his life back in Pittsburgh. His lack of perspective keeps him from being available to the myriad of choices he has in life but does not yet see. Ironically, it is only when his life is about to conclude when he realizes how much he wants to live and do. These feelings are often expressed by people who have

Paul’s rude, aggressive and irresponsible nature show how he is ugly. His rudeness towards the people who try to help him discourage further help from those people. His aggressiveness can and will prevent Paul. His stubborn nature tires the people who nonstop help him. Paul’s negative characteristics shape everyone's present and future who are involved with him. Small easy to fix character traits could ruin someone's life.