In “Paul’s Case” and “The Garden Party,” two authors describe efforts by ripening young adults to shelter themselves from the horrors of everyday realities. Whereas Paul isolates himself the mediocrities present in the working class, Laura begins her struggle as spoiled and isolated in a mansion and, thus, tries to distance herself from her elitist family. The oppression of mediocrity in all its guises and the narrowness of Paul’s surroundings in “Paul’s Case” leads Paul to hurl himself away from Cordelia Street. Cather implies the difficulty of achieving happiness for Paul, analogizing Paul’s struggle to that of a train. As Paul awaits the next escape from town, Cather writes, “The eastbound train was plowing through a January snowstorm.” …show more content…
In “Paul’s Case,” Cather highlights the protagonist‘s journey into isolation through his expeditions into the city. Contrastingly, “The Garden Party” indicts the isolation of an upper-class family and characterizes the attempt of the protagonist to distance herself from her family as phony and self-serving. Unlike Cather, Mansfield implies that Laura is unprepared to isolate herself from her family as she makes her way to the lower-level cottages. Laura describes “They were the greatest possible eyesore, and they had no right to be in that neighbourhood at all.” Laura’s entitlement before her journey the influence of her isolation on her perspective and corresponding ignorance. Her unwarranted exaggeration of the cottages as the “greatest possible eyesore” further implies her lack of knowledge outside of the mansion, denouncing anything aesthetically displeasing as intolerable. Although Laura praises herself for opening her eyes to a charity-case, Mansfield implies the callow aspects of Laura’s spoiled world-view. Meanwhile, Paul eagerly isolates himself, labelling loneliness as a Paradise unworthy to land-dwellers. While alone, however, Paul rids himself of his anxieties, his fear of the “the dark place into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him.” Although Paul perceives the disapproval of the bourgeois of Cordelia Street, he feels able to indulge himself while alone. Whereas the narrator in the first story reveals the relieving aspects of isolation for its protagonist, the narrator in the second story undercuts isolation as a breeding grounds for inescapable
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
Negative experiences of belonging within the individual’s place of residence results in low self-esteem and develops the desire to escape and seek belonging elsewhere. We witness this in Herrick’s The Simple Gift in Longlands Road, when Billy says, ‘this place has never looked so rundown and beat’, which conveys his lack of connection to the place through pejorative colloquial personification of place. The “rundown and beat” nature of “place” parallels Billy’s perception of both himself and his home by using the pathetic fallacy of rain. Moreover, his hatred towards “Nowhereville” is expressed using coarse language and the symbolic action of vandalising the houses of his neighbours with pejorative colloquialism in ‘I throw one rock on the road of each deadbeat no hoper shithole lonely downtrodden house.’ This shows the place of residence is an important influence on creating a sens...
Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where she is locked into an upstairs room. This environment serves not as an inspiration for mental health, but as an element of repression. The locked door and barred windows serve to physically restrain her: “the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” The narrator is affected not only by the physical restraints but also by being exposed to the room’s yellow wallpaper which is dreadful and fosters only negative creativity. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.”
In conclusion, Willa Carther’s “Paul’s Case” is an interesting glimpse into the world of a young boy, who’s individuality is constantly in conflict with the conformist society that surrounds him. In attempts to escape this reality, Paul loses himself in a fantasy world of art, lies, and thievery. In this attempt to escape, Paul slips into isolation and depression. Carther in this regard is very careful on how she portrays Paul, to brink about some sympathy from the reader as he is simply a troubled young man. In the end, Paul’s individuality and societies refusal of him leads to Paul’s demise. The sympathy Cather creates for Paul leaves one questioning if society simply should have supported Paul’s individuality, instead of letting him slip away. Paul’s death seems to support this theory, as not a single reader would have wished such a cruel ending to the life of a dreamer.
“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.
Throughout the story, Paul greatly struggles with the dissonance he feels between physically being alive and living a fantastical dream life, ultimately choosing to kill himself rather than end his fantasy. This dilemma is expressed throughout Paul’s Case with deep realizations and vivid language highlighting the extreme tone shifts. Willa Cather uses her mastery of the English language to explore the very feelings at Paul’s core, creating both a wonderful study of Paul’s character, and an examination of conflicting fantasy and reality. Although Paul is physically alive for almost all of the story, he does not consider this really living.
“A gust of wind brought the rain down with sudden vehemence”(2). Storms within Paul’s life wake him up from his fantasies. Without entrance into Carnegie Hall and being forbidden from associating with Charley Edwards, Paul’s dreams of being involved with the upper class are shattered. The origins of his fantasies and stories came from the performances in Carnegie Hall. Without them, he is unable to overcome the despair he faces at home and at school. “The hopeless feeling of sinking back, forever into ugliness and commonness that he always has when he came home”(3) Cordelia Street has always been Paul’s home. Yet, he loathes it as it reminds him of his circumstances. Paul see’s his home as unpleasant and dull compared to the congeniality and luxury of Carnegie Hall. His inability to increase his financial wealth and prominence in society has its effects on his mental state. Without Carnegie Hall as a passage for him to feel involved in high society life, he becomes depressed, unable to be satisfied without the theatre and its
Cather deals with the technological and aesthetic issue in her story, Paul’s Case. The story is set in Pittsburg, a town that is characterized by the glamorous lives of steel kings such as Carnegie (Edward and Leon 11). The wealthy steel kings, were a vital focal point for Paul’s aspirations. In the first part of the story, we meet Paul through his teacher’s perceptions. We are able to learn that at school, Paul is perceived as being Contemptuous and immensely irritating (Marilyn...
Isolation is an aspect of life that many struggle with and is consequently a common trait in literature. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World imagines a new future: one where monogamy is blasphemous, promiscuity is encouraged from a young age, families do not exist, and happiness is expected through the use of narcotic drugs. Anyone who rejects this status quo is considered an outsider. Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime shows the world through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Christopher whose perspective and outlook on life is more critical and observant than that of the people surrounding him, making it difficult for him to function well in his community. While taking place at two different times in two completely different
Throughout “Paul’s Case,” Paul admires his luxurious lifestyle during his week-long spree in New York City. Nevertheless, when he saw his crime of embezzlement exploited in a Pittsburgh newspaper and found out his father was coming to retrieve him, Paul escapes his dream life and takes a taxi to a nearby railroad. When Paul arrives at the railroad, he is given the same choice as Dave on whether to hop into one of the cars or to run in front of an incoming train. However, unlike Dave, Paul runs in front and gets run over by the train. This action demonstrated by Paul shows he’s willing to sacrifice his own life because he believes there is no future to live the luxurious lifestyle of his dreams. Paul thinks going back to Cordelia Street will just keep him trapped in the dull life of the middle class. The fact of being stripped of the lifestyle he dearly loves will only cause him to be depressed since the excitement and luxury in his life is inevitably going to be stripped from him. With the last of the independence Paul has, he makes this decision of killing himself since he anticipates a better future since he will no longer suffer living the plain middle-class life. From this, the reader is able to realize the symbolism of the train portrays the opportunity to end suffering. Through analysis the reader can create the understanding association between Paul’s depression
During one’s life journey, here on earth, one is forced to live and deal with their internal and external conflicts. Such conflicts forces one to live a dismal lifestyle, until one gets the opportunity to free themselves from such lifestyle. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams portrays the protagonist Tom Wingfield as a miserable human being who lives life for the sake of living. Throughout the course of this paper, readers will get the opportunity to learn that Tom’s sister, Laura Wingfield and his mother, Amanda Wingfield help him escape from his dejected life; therefore, Tom is free—both physically and mentally. Tom’s freedom will now allow him to chase after his dream, which is to live an adventurous life and to write poetry—live his life
...re the human behaviors of an unappreciative and broken lifestyle. Together the two look up the the high class and luxury lifestyle with beliefs that they deserve to be apart of it. Taking advantage and looking past the hard working families that they come from, they force themselves to live miserable lives that others dream of. Both authors use a specific detail that the characters lives through to find happiness in their illusive lifestyles; For Mathilde is the diamond necklace, and for Paul is the escape to the theatre arts. Mathilde and Paul were both ashamed of their belongings and where they come from, but both collected joy from societies mistaken vision of the wealth that they portrayed. Although both characters had minor human behaviors that varied, Mathilde and Paul both shared the desire for the aristocratic lifestyle which fundamentally dilapidated them.
Society has always had an influence on the way people think and act. Many beliefs and actions viewed as unique are many times shunned upon by members of society. This constraint on being an individual is explored in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Joyce’s “The Boarding House.” Both authors show how society’s constraints put stress on individuals’ lives. In some cases this stress is good for the characters, but for some characters society’s constraints are too much.
spent a lot of time thinking how to get rid of the house and the farm and to abandon his family. The mother also wants to be free from home and her marriage life. She plans to sell the house and escape to Europe where she thinks dreams can be attainable. Family and home are no longer a source of security, tranquility, and happiness for parents; they are rather a source of misery and meaninglessness for their lives. They are unable to realize the true meaning of their lives and the intimate and warm relationship that characterizes the relationship between a husband and a wife in the space of the house. The father escapes this reality by abandoning his family. He isolates himself and drinks heavily to find himself at the end drowned in debts
Richardson utilises “narratorial distance” to treat Laura, the “subject” of the novel, with irony (Treagus 204). Additionally, the use of third-person narration serves to prevent sympathetic reaction to Laura. The passage supports this, as Laura’s fears of social exclusion are only referred to as “troubles” (Richardson 169). While Richardson trivialises Laura’s reactions to her social ostracisation, the destruction of her innocence is the lasting result of these experiences. Laura’s fear of embarrassment contrasts with her initial inability to comprehend the “elusive code of restraint” that governs the actions of her peers (O’Loughlin 88). These social pressures become key motivations for Laura’s later actions. This includes her refusal to wear the purple dress, due to “the views held by her companions” (Richardson 171). However, Laura’s later actions, which mirror those of her tormentors, reveal the transformation of her character. Accordingly, Laura felt no “sympathy” for a girl that underwent the “same experience” of social ostracisation (Richardson 167). This highlights the negative direction of Laura’s development. Richardson’s rejection of common literary devices of the period supports the importance of this theme in the text. Richardson challenges the bildungsroman genre, (Pratt 7) as she “mocks earlier moral tales” set in schools (Treagus 201). Through the subversion of traditional narrative direction, Richardson undermines the same social pressures that influence Laura’s development. The destruction of innocence within The Getting of Wisdom reveals how Richardson attempts to criticise the imposition of gender roles through her narrative