Paul's Case by Willa Cather

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Paul's Case by Willa Cather

Willa Cather was born near Winchester, Virginia in 1873. At age ten,

she moved with her family to Nebraska where most of her stories were set. In

1913, she began an extensive writing career which included many short

stories and several novels. In her stories, she depicted the lives of prairie

farmers on the great plains. She glorified them over the city dwellers. In

1922, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours. She left behind a

heritage for the people she represented, and a living history of a period and

place in time.

This short story, "Paul's Case", was written around 1905 when Willa

Cather was living in Pittsburgh; it is the only one of her stories with that city

as a background. During her time there she taught in a high school and she

said the story was based on experience with two boys in her classes. It also

has connections to her own background of growing up in a small town in

Nebraska where she hungered for a broader life experience.

In "Paul's Case", by Willa Cather, Paul displays selfishness,

impatience, and, in the end, cowardice to live his life the way he sees as

ideal. Paul, a sensitive high school student, shows his selfish manner in order

to gain what he believes is a higher goal. Paul's father tries to display trust in

Paul by taking him from Carnegie Hall and the theater guild and placing him

in an occupation where he will someday be able to prosper. Paul does not see

in a light which would make him proud to accept his father's trust. In the

opposite, he thinks his father is taking him away from what he loves for pure

spite. Paul had no concern for his father's feelings or reputation when he took

the money from his employer. This fact ...

... middle of paper ...

...ng to do or what would occur if he did not when

he was walking towards the tracks and trying to sort the images he had seen

on his journey, because he was "unable to cope with vital matters near at

hand". He felt suicide was his one way ticket away from the trouble he would

meet with when his father arrived in New York. Once he had the sudden

realization that he had left so much undone, it was too late.

Willa Cather, the author of "Paul's Case", made Paul the most selfish,

impatient, and cowardly character ever seen in literature. People must wait on

what is due to them. Fortune and happiness do not come from wishing they

were there. They are attained through hard work and diligence. These are two

characteristics Paul did not possess. Maybe, it was better he had his moment

in the sun through ill gain, because he had no potential of actually earning it.

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