Analysis Of Paul's Case By Willa Cather

Children often have wild daydreams and intense fantasies, which leads to imaginary friends and crazy games. These fantasies may grow and seem like a superior choice when compared to reality, but it can become problematic, especially when it dominates their life. In Paul’s Case by Willa Cather, Paul’s decisions, thoughts, and his red carnation prove that an overpowering desire for a fantasy can lead to destruction. When Paul is introduced, his vivid daydreams become apparent immediately. Paul works as an usher at Carnegie Hall, where he is exposed to the excellent music and art that is made there. For Paul, “...instruments seemed to free some hilarious and potent spirit within him; something that struggled there like the Genius in the bottle

our,” “warm,” “exotic,” and “glistening.” In contrast, Paul’s interpretation of reality is much more bleak, he experiences “...physical depression which follows a debauch; the loathing of respectable beds, of common food, of a house penetrated by kitchen odours; a shuddering repulsion for the flavourless, colourless mass of every-day existence; a morbid desire for

In one instance, he steals money from his job at the bank in order to fuel his fantasy. He uses this stolen money to go to New York City, stay in a fancy hotel, and buy expensive clothing. To Paul, “This was what all the world was fighting for, he reflected; this was what all the struggle was about” (20). When his fantasy is fulfilled by staying in New York City, he “felt so at peace with himself” (22) despite the fact that he had to steal achieve it. Paul is slowly being absorbed by his obsession and he is doing things that are immoral to fulfill it, which proves that having such a powerful imagination is destructive. Furthermore, Paul chooses to commit suicide when he learns that his father is coming to bring him back from New York City. To Paul, going home “...was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever. The grey monotony stretched before him in hopeless, unrelieved years” (22). He was so entranced by his rich daydream that the threat of his home made him miserable. Rather than be removed from his fantasy, he jumped in front of a train. Only after he commits suicide does he realize how foolish he had been to go so far with his fantasy and he thinks “...the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone” (27). If he hadn’t been