Accidents occurs every time in the most unpredictable time and place. Paul Rayment was a victim of an unfortunate event that completely change his life physically, emotionally, and psychologically. His accident cost his leg. As an avid biker and biking as his primary source of transportation, Paul’s leg was a major part of his life and being amputated meant a lot of complication for the rest of his life. The story looks into the life of Paul and his struggles in his new, modified life as an old amputee, who prefer life in solitude. Looking deeper in the meaning of his seemingly stubborn attitude towards his amputation, Paul showed a great psychological shift on how to live the rest of his life and start to accept rather new concepts that he …show more content…
has to incorporate in his daily routines. The symbology of declining the prosthetics showed Paul refusing his new life, while supporting Marijana's family showed his effort to do a benevolent action to represent his life as an amputee. Being a new amputee, Paul Rayment was in great distraught and angry with the misfortune that have befallen him. From the doctors who cut off his leg to the cursed Magill road, he tried to blame everyone to simply relieve himself the anguish of his suffering. “Other Questions?’ He shakes his head. Why did you not ask me first? He wants to say; but if he utters the words he will lose control, he will start shouting.” (8) Paul knows that his injury was an accident that's why he controlled himself to blame the doctor. However in his head, he was ready to burst and pour all his anger to his doctor. He imagines that if he was able to be consciously talked about his injury and his possible options, he thinks that he could picked a better outcome. This anger was caused by his high dependency on his leg. It seems that if we was injured somewhere else, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. His amputated leg was the line fork on the road that decided the rest of his miserable life. The rage building up on him was the result of his forward thinking about the next decade of his life being a useless, pathetic amputee. His amputation was the sign of his days where he can enjoy his life biking and is now forced to live in disability.
However, his realization of the injury was further pushed to him when his doctor offered him prosthesis. At face value, prosthesis gives hope to amputees, enabling them to return to their normal lives with the minimum technicalities, however Paul sees prosthesis on a different matter. “Let me say it again : I don’t want a prosthesis.’ Dr Hansen and Nurse Elaine exchange glances. ‘if you don’t want a prosthesis, what would you prefer?’ ‘I would prefer to take care of myself.” (10) Not only he refused the prosthesis, Paul completely ignore the line of questioning about his disability. The refusal of the prosthesis made his to make a choice, giving his the mentality that he is still in control of his life. Mad on his lack of option on his amputation, the ability to pick the prosthesis is a small, yet crucial decision that he could make for his own life. Additionally, the use of prosthesis symbolize that he surrenders and accept that he is a feeble old man who cannot make choices for himself. When Paul said that he wants to take care of himself, he was emphasizing that this tragedy that happened to him was not as life altering as the doctor thinks. Paul’s long lived years as a single , independent man affected his thoughts and how to process his current …show more content…
predicament. Lastly, as Paul tries to live his miserable life, he seeks for some meaning to live.
The first sign of his return to humanity was him liking a girl in a sexual manner. “Not quite young enough for the role of princess, perhaps, but attractive nonetheless; soft-fleshed.........She is the first woman to provoke his sexual interest since the accident” (36) Even though his essence of his former self was slowly dwindling down because of the accident, Paul was able to observe the beauty of his surroundings and having the same instincts as a normal mature man. This small stimuli helps Paul to stay intact with reality and able to survive his melancholic lifestyle. However, the arrival of Marijana ignited his life and gave him a greater reason for his life. Marijana is an educated and culturally apt caregiver that is blessed with a healthy family, that Paul longs for. He was offering Marijana to be a sponsor for his son to have a better education, which was an indirect approach towards her affection. “Yes. He wants Drago to have a good education..... He wants Ljuba and her older sister to grow up happy too, and have their own hearts’ desire. Over the whole brood he wants to extend the shield of his benevolent protection. And he wants to love this excellent woman, their mother. That above all. For which he will pay.” (p77)Paul’s intentions were pure, to help Marijana and her family to gain access for the better of their future. However, his love towards Marijana is stronger than his
effort to love her children. It seems that Paul’s helping hand was just a simple way to win Marijana’s heart, yet he doesn’t force his benevolence to point that she might take it as pity. Paying for the children was a symbol of Paul Rayment’s opportunity to give back to the community. The disability change his mentality towards money. He wanted to share his wealth to support a poor family, in return he wanted to be treated as part of their family. Deep inside, he is starting to realize the importance of having a family, a wife or a son, that will help him on his final days. Marijana was only working for him for a short period of time, yet he instantly fell in love with her. This strongly indicate his need for someone to take care of him. The missing love that he longs for, the son the he could never have and a place that he could call home were in front of him, he just need to simply grab it and keep it for himself. He was delusional because he thinks that by using his money to buy her love, by supporting her family, but this hope, the slight chance of Marijana falling for him enables him to force himself to live in this tragic life. Paul’s life could be considered to be extremely unfortunate. His life was simple and living alone was the perfect lifestyle from him. The accident stole a huge amount of his life, that could possibly break his will to live. His amputation was the pinnacle of this life, he knows that everything after it was downhill. He never got the chance to get depressed but his is full of anger and tries to find someone to blame. The prosthesis was the physical, tangible object that signifies his new life, but he refused to accept it believing that by doing so will prevent him from going back to reality. The ability to refuse the prosthetics gave Paul a slight hope that he’s still in control of his life. He knows that his life would never be the same and refusing the list of inevitable changes scares him. Realizing this, he tries to recuperate by finding a new meaning in life by gaining the love and care of his new caregiver, Marijana. He wanted to obtain her and her family to his protection and live as their new father. The seemingly benevolent act of being their benefactor is Paul’s plan to have some contribution to the outside world and someone to represent his name. Paul’s decisions for the rest of his life is heavily affected by his amputation. He’s view in life would never be the same due to the face that his body would never return to its former glory.
As previously stated, in the beginning of the book, Paul was super quiet, shy, and lonely. In fact, his only friend was his mom. Paul never tried to change anything, and never made his voice heard. He had terrible self esteem - mainly because he felt it was his fault he was blind, and had to
In her essay “On Being a Cripple,” Mairs describes her path of acceptance of her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis by declaring that she is a “cripple” in alternative to the more broadly acceptable terms: disabled or handicapped. Her essay is written with humor, satire, an open heart, and open eyes. Mair’s purpose is to describe her acceptances of her condition by using rhetorical elements and appeals, such as ethos and pathos, in order to allure her audience.
Paul believes that everyone around him is beneath him. He is convinced that he is superior to everyone else in his school and in his neighborhood. He is even condescending to his teachers, and shows an appalling amount of contempt for them, of which they are very aware.
Every encounter Paul has with someone he creates a new identity to bond and connect with them. Throughout the play Paul creates multiple personas for himself, he realizes that he is an empty vessel with no past and only memories of what he has done during his different personas. Paul loses control over his multiple personas which cause them to overlap with each other. Which causes him to feel lost and in search of help, when Ousia offers this help he gladly takes it which end up putting him in prison and never to be seen in New York.
Nearby resident Stephen Sweetman provides examples of making and remaking on City Road, in relation to connections and disconnections between people. Disconnected with disabled people, until a severe disablement of his own, Stephen soon became further disconnected, this time with people from the outside world. Family members connected with Stephen by introducing him to the use of a wheelchair. This action enabled Stephen to connect with fellow wheelchair users yet, after experiencing ‘discrimination’ (Havard, 2014, p.77) held against disabled people; he remained disconnected with the rest of society. While acknowledging how far society has travelled, along the road to securing acceptable disabled rights, Stephen stated,
...nearly always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty”(Pg. 7). With this in mind, Paul’s actions seem deliberate, as if he knew what he was doing all along, again supporting the theory that he was simply wallowing in misery, crying for help.
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.
From the outset of the story, the reader is shown Paul's thoughts. Through this the story tells us that Paul has a very active imagination. This is shown when Pauls says, "Then,
Paul’s infatuation with Agnes seems to have caught his mother by complete surprise. Their seven years in the village seemed to only strengthen her belief that Paul was a great man worthy of the praise and admiration that others bestowed upon him. It seemed the perfect fit for both of them “for they were so happy in the little village that seemed to her the most beautiful in all the world, because her Paul was its saviour and its king” (Deledda 31). If not for the mother’s need to protect Paul, his affair with Agnes may have continued on longer. Her devotion to her son and to God could not go on silenced however. Paul’s feelings of guilt forced him to see his error and to quite seeing Agnes in order to serve only God. “He was a priest, he believed in God, he had wedded the church, and was vowed to chastity” (Deledda 57). His love toward Agnes did not dissipate however and he sought to find ways to forget about her.
The first indication the relationship between Paul and his mother is not one that is ideal is when we are first introduced to the mother. She reveals she feels her children, "had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them," whenever her children were present, "she always felt
Due to these insecurities, the men commit actions that make the female characters the victims. Miriam is in love with Paul and committed to him, despite this, she ends up heartbroken. “He felt, in leaving her, he was defrauding her of life. But he knew that, in staying, stifling the inner, desperate man, he was denying his own life. And he did not hope to give life to her by denying his own.” (Lawrence, 136). Paul has to decide between his happiness and Miriam’s. In the end, Paul chooses to ruin her life rather than his own. This decision is driven by his need to feel masculine as he thinks that Miriam is depriving him of this. Feeling emasculated is his insecurity and because Paul feels insecure he thinks that hurting Miriam is justified.
Early on the man ignores his injury, he tries to keep busy by reading and just trying not to think about it. “He never let the realization get to him; he let himself realize it physically, but he never quite let it get to him”(Gordimer 396). Though he tries to forget his loss he is constantly reminded of it. “his attention was arrested sometimes, quite suddenly and compellingly by the sunken place under the rug where his leg used to be”( 396).
believes that if Paul was to need her, if she could take care of him, "if
OUCH! My leg crippled with pain. I tried to shuffle my way to the window, but it was excruciating. As my senses kicked back in, I felt pains shooting up and down my body. Peering down at my hands I screamed. My hands were covered in cold, congealed blood.
Paul's relationship with Clara is based on passion. Her womanliness impresses him from the first time that they meet and throughout their relationship. Since Paul has never had any sexual experiences Clara amazes him thoroughly because she is so sensual, unlike Miriam who is afraid of any physical contact and his mother who is not in a position to offer him such things. During their relationship, Paul matures from a boy into a man not only physically but also mentally. Sadly, due to their age difference and their different perceptions of life, their relationship falls apart. Another great reason for the failure of their relationship is the fact that Clara is married.