“Paul’s Case” is a short story by Willa Cather that was written in 1905. Paul is boy in high school that has many behavior problems. He strives for attention so badly that he feels that he needs to show out in order to receive the recognition that he wants, especially from his father. Willa Cather uses symbolism in her short story to develop the tragic demise of Paul.
The symbolism used in the first paragraph is repeated throughout the story. The red carnation that Paul has placed in the buttonhole symbolizes his unreal desire to become recognized. The carnation is very flamboyant and is not appropriate attire for the discipline meeting that Paul is having with the principal of his school and all of his teachers that also have problems with his behavior. “... and a red carnation in his buttonhole. This latter adornment the faculty somehow felt was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension” (536). This symbolism also foreshadows that something to do with this yearning is going to appear later in the story. Like the colorful a...
Paul’s character relates to the central idea because he is an example of a person who was not accepted by others and fell down on a dark path of no
The stories "Barn Burning" written by William Faulkner and "Paul's Case" written by Willa Cather both have two separate characters with very similar troubles. Each has a uniquely sad narrative. "Barn Burning" is a sad story because it not only shows the classical struggle between the underprivileged and the privileged classes, but also the struggle between a father and his son, Sarty. Together, these two boys share comparable lifestyles. Each has conflicts with his father, fantasize of a wealthier existence, and flee from the tribulations in his life.
" That shows that Paul had always thought low of himself because his parents never told him the truth. This decision made Paul feel weak and miserable because he had always thought it was his fault. On page 265, Paul gets his parents to admit what had actually happened to make him blind. They said they didn't tell him the truth because they didn't want him to hate his brother. What Paul mentions is quite sad.
It’s a symbol for Paul of the unusual life he wants to lead. It’s also a symbol of he is being different. “The carnations in his coat were drooping with the cold, he noticed, their red glory all over.” The carnation like Paul, are rebelling against conformity and trying to be beautiful. However, people who try to live a different kind of life tend to end up dead. Clearly, both selections show a difference in symbolism.
Analysis of Paul's Case by Willa Cather. 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 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.
In "Paul's Case," the story revolves around a young male. He is the main character. There are very few mentions of women, however, when they do come into the story they are only mentioned briefly, or they play minor, secondary characters. Paul's mother and sisters are spoken about once during the entire story, while there are four references to his father. The females in his family are mentioned only in passing and remain flat characters, while his father is referred to several times, each time involving an action or comment which exhibits an aspect of his father's personality which makes him a more rounded character.
A novel should be something that is easy to define. One would expect the novel to have a plot, a central theme, a central character and a consistent style? The truth is that all of these things are important but not specifically necessary. Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop cannot be easily classified as a novel in normal terms. It lacks a central plot that carries the work from beginning to some sort of an ending. It does, however, contain central characters, themes, and a clearly consistent style, but the story that is told consists of small vignettes.
The car motif appears in several locations throughout the story, most notably at the beginning and end. The very first page of the story includes Elain driving the car in order to transport her husband home from the hospital. This shows that Elaine has begun to take more of the family responsibility, as well as her ability to cope with the tragedy that has struck the family. The motif appears a second time when the narrator describes how he taught his children to drive. He becomes discouraged by the fact that he was the one who initially taught the other family members to drive, but he has now become helpless, and a burden on his family. The motif appears a final time in the last line of the story when the narrator describes how he is learning to drive again. This represents his final acceptance of his lot in life and the fact that he has made peace with himself and can learn to cope. The car motif is not the only element used to illustrate the theme. Rindo also uses symbolism to demonstrate a theme of perseverance. Examples of this occur throughout the story; the most obvious one appears when the narrator describes the cars parked outside his house. A rusted white hearse belongs to Neon, Sarah's boyfriend. The car has a purple decoration on the side; the color purple is often used to represent cancer. The two symbols, combined, suggest that death will come suddenly, accompanied by cancer. Rindo includes another example of symbolism in one of the gifts given to the narrator, a puzzle which displays the Statue of Liberty while under construction, covered in scaffolding and braces; these metal supports could symbolize the crutches and the prosthetic leg that the narrator relies on. Symbolism appears a final time when the narrator mentions the black spots that mar the kitchen
"Paul's Case," by Willa Cather, is a story that deals with a young boy who does not feel that he lives a life befitting of him. Upon a close reading, it is evident that "Paul's Case" is ruled by irony and symbolism, which are apparent in the story through the words of the narrator. The irony woven throughout the text builds up to an epiphonic moment, a main paradox in the story, which reveals to the reader Paul's true nature.
The next morning, Kat and Albert see Paul off on his train. He travels through the villages and cities, observing the scenery. When he arrives at his hometown, Paul is flooded with memories from his surroundings; he recognizes the landmarks of his home, such as the square watch-tower and the great mottled lime tree. He starts to feel like an outsider as if he didn’t belong in the civilized
Paul has an addiction to alcohol that has greatly devastated his life, but he also has a problem with gambling. Paul’s gambling started shortly after his alcoholism and his problems are all related. This is demonstrated when Norman states “… tell my mother and father that my brother had been beaten by the butt of a revolver and his body dumped in an alley” (Maclean 102). His addiction caused a cycle of problems, starting with his alcohol addiction, which led to gambling and from there stemmed money problems. Ultimately his alcoholism left him dead in an alley with his family wondering how it all happened, because he was not connected to them. His life was literally destroyed because of a few thoughtless decisions he made while intoxicated. All of his life problems and experiences are connected by one thing: his need to get a short rush of happiness from alcohol. His past decisions all added up and ended up killing him, and if he would have made wiser decisions in the past he might be still
Paul suffered setbacks and dilemmas because he never knew his mother as she died around the time of his birth. Therefore he is lacking the maternal guidance of emotional stability that every child needs to grow mentally. Paul is withdrawn from society, and he resorts to the arts and music to feel comfortable and free from his disassociation and sense of loneliness. One should not be confused and believe that his father was not loving or caring of Paul because his father did what he could to support Paul and to do all he could to get Paul out of problem situations. He just was not very keen on Paul's needs, especially his manners or clothing. The narrator described Paul's clothes as being "a trifle outgrown, and the tan velvet on the collar of his open overcoat was frayed and worn" (67). Men are not the gender who is as observant and uptight about people's attires. Men tend to desire less than women do, and this was inflicted upon Paul since it was his father who was overseeing Paul's limits on material well-being. It takes more of a female's point of view to judge if something looks perfect, and Paul and his father did not have this type of direction around. A master of Paul's noticed "what a white, blue-veined face it was; drawn and wrinkled like an old man's around the eyes, and stiff with nervous tension . . ." (69). The wrinkles apparently came from the stresses that ruled Paul. HE was constantly dealing with the pain of no mother and his nervous tension was that he knew how he did not fit in with all the other boys his age. He lacked the maternal stability and reassurance that most children had in order to be string mentally and emotionally. This stood out when he was aro...
Young Goodman Brown vs. Paul After studying the short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case”, I began to see many similarities within the two stories. Both of the main characters in each story have characteristics that could be looked at as being alike, but after analyzing each character I started to find that although alike in some aspects, these two characters are very different from one another. At first I noticed that both Goodman Brown and Paul are starving for attention, but in different ways. Next, I see that each character has issues with their past and are both trying desperately to overcome them.
In ‘Paul’s Case’ Paul has created a fantasy world in which he becomes entranced, even to the point of lying to classmates about the tales of grandeur and close friendships that he had made with the members of the stock company. This fantasy falls apart around him as “the principle went to Paul’s father, and Paul was taken out of school and put to work. The manager at Carnegie Hall was told to get another usher in his stead; the doorkeeper at the theater was warned not to admit him to the house” (Cather 8). The fantasy fell apart further when the stories he had told his classmates reached the ears of the women of the stock company, who unlike their lavish descriptions from Paul were actually hardworking women supporting their families. Unable to cope with the reality of working for Denny & Carson, he stole the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank to live the life of luxury in New York. Only a person who felt backed into a corner would attempt something so unsound. After his eight days in paradise, he is again backed into a corner by the reality of his middle class upbringing, and the dwindling time he has before his father reaches New York to find him. The final way out for Paul is his suicide, for which an explanation would be “In the end, he fails to find his security, for it was his grandiose “picture making mechanism” that made his life so deardful.” (Saari). With all the securities of his fantasy life finally gone, his mental instability fully comes to light as he jumps in front of the train to end his
Pauls's Case is the story of a young man who struggles with his identity. Paul feels that he knows where he belongs, but his family and teachers refuse to support his choices. In the middle of Paul's Case, there is a switch in narration. At this point, the reader can associate with Paul and his problems. Paul struggles with both internal and external conflicts, causing him to be quite a puzzling character. From tha perspective of his family and teachers, Paul seems abnormal. From his perspective, however, he seems misunderstood.