Analysis Of Paul's Case By Willa Cather

Money is a powerful thing, but allowing it to take control of your life, how you feel and what you do with it can end in terrible consequences. The economic theory states that all human endeavors are driven by money/desire for power or position. The use of the economic theory can be helpful to better understand “Paul’s Case”, by Willa Cather.
The economic theory can be used to better understand this story by the way Paul has a desire for the nicer things. When learning that the theory has to do with how money can make people feel a certain way, it makes you reflect about how that was used in “Paul’s Case.” “His clothes were a trifle outgrown, and the tan velvet on the collar of his open overcoat was frayed and worn; but, for all that, there

“On seasonable Sunday afternoons the burghers of Cordelia Street always sat out on their front "stoops,".” (Cather 77) This term written from Cather is to describe some of the neighborhood Paul lives in and how he initially sees it. Although the neighborhood is not as bad as he thinks, those thoughts can be tied back to money, and even with the economic theory. It can be tied back because Paul believes that you should not have to work all the time and if you are wealthy you can get everything you want, mostly the finer things, silk, clothes, etc. and that those nice things’ should magically fall into place, and better your lifestyle. Yet, in the end that is not a realistic approach to life. This quote is mostly used to suggest that Paul may want the freedom that comes with money but not that you have to work to get it

Since the economic theory is about how money can be a culprit, it can be used to show how Paul was spiraling downhill towards the end of the story and why he chose to end the way that he did. “When the right moment came, he jumped. As he fell, the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone. There flashed through his brain, clearer than ever before, the blue of Adriatic water, the yellow of Algerian sands.” (Cather 83) When Paul was jumping off the cliff and directly in front of the train he reflected on how he should’ve done more in regards to his unrealistic life, it was not a change of mind but more of regret. The economic theory idea supports this quote because Paul could not overcome the differences of his social-economical class and the overall sense of his unrealistic life. He cared so much about the thought of what the finer things’ money can bring and money itself that it eventually created such an impact and influenced his life so strongly that he decided he would rather die than face his