Analysis Of Paul's Case By Willa Cather

In “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather, the story begins with a tense atmosphere as a young 16 year-old boy, named Paul, enters the principal’s office, who seems to have every intention to cause a reaction among his teachers, who made the complaint about Paul’s ongoing bad behavior at school. He entered with an attitude opposite of what he should have when getting questioned by the principal of Pittsburg High School, to account for his various misdemeanors. His demeanor is shown in the following quote:

Paul entered the faculty room, suave and smiling. 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 was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an opal pin

in his neatly knotted black four-in-hand, and a red carnation in his buttonhole(Cather).
What makes this quote stand out is that, in the story, Paul wants to impress others with his fashion skills, but actually does the opposite and makes the teachers there feel very unnerving, especially because he had a red carnation in his buttonhole. During the meeting Paul politely lies to them, which is not uncommon for him to do considering he’s used to it. He does this with a smile, while he is being accused very angrily by his teachers for being impertinent and disorderly. In the lecture by his teachers, Paul is verbally attacked viciously without mercy, and he just stood through it. By the end of it all, readers realize that Paul and Society have a lack of understanding of one another, which ultimately causes him to be expelled from school. He also gets expelled from going to his favorite place: Carnegie Hall, where he could enjoy his passion for music, and especially the opera, which he loves the most, for being able to see the rich and fabulous all around him. The reason for his expulsion from his school and Carnegie Hall was:
...that the principal went to Paul's father, and Paul was taken out of school and put to work. The manager at Carnegie Hall was told to get another usher in his stead, the doorkeeper at the theatre was warned not to admit him to the house, and Charley Edwards remorsefully promised the boy's father not to see him again(Cather).
This depresses Paul and causes him to go on an irrational spending spree with the money he stole from a bank that he is working at. Once, the money ran out, his father went after him because the theft was discovered, and Paul basically became a wanted man. However, his father never got to him, since Paul jumped off the train he was escaping with and died in the railroad tracks committing suicide. By leading up to the tragedy of Paul’s suicide, Willa Cather is claiming that if we don’t accept others for who they are, they may eventually fall down a dark path of no redemption.
The point of view in “Paul’s Case” is third-person omniscient, which ties into to the central idea because the narrator relates Paul’s story more effective than if it was told from Paul himself and because the narrator is objective, we get a thorough picture of what Paul’s life is like and what he is going through.

One such quote that supports the claim of third person omniscient is found in the 19th paragraph where the author describes how Paul feels; “Paul stopped short before the door. He felt that he could not be accosted by his father to-night, that he could not toss again on that miserable bed”(Cather). This quote depicts Paul’s emotions towards his father as fear. Third person omniscient allows us to better understand the motivations of every character, which can also explain the events of the plot as it develops throughout the

story.
The protagonist and central character, in “Paul’s Case” is Paul, as readers can see that the narrator is describing everything about Paul life story. The antagonist is basically society as a whole. In the beginning of the short story Paul is described in the following quote in the 2nd paragraph:
Paul was tall for his age and very thin, with high, cramped shoulders and a narrow chest. His eyes were remarkable for a certain hysterical brilliancy, and he continually used them in a conscious, theatrical sort of way, peculiarly offensive in a boy. The pupils were abnormally large, as though he were addicted to belladonna, but there was a glassy glitter about them which that drug does not produce(Cather).
In the beginning of the story, Paul, is portrays himself as someone who is not nervous under the ban of suspension. While Paul is getting lectured by his teacher in the beginning of the story, he is portrayed as a passive aggressive person, he basically uses his actions to aggravate people more indirectly than conducting a direct attack. When Paul is asked why he treated a female teacher disrespectfully, his answer was in an unapologetic tone:
“I don’t know,” he replied.

“I didn’t mean to be polite, or impolite, either. I guess it’s a sort of way I have of saying things, regardless”(Cather).

Paul as a character can be described as a dreamer, who is so lost in the glamour and glory of a rich life that the world around turns gray without any sense of reality. Often because Paul is lost in his own fantasy world, that he does not behave in ways acceptable to society. When Paul comes face to face with reality, which causes his mind to collapse, that Paul begins to despair and commits suicide:

There came upon him one of those fateful attacks of clear-headedness that never occurred except when he was physically exhausted and his nerves hung loose. ...He saw everything clearly now. He had a feeling that he had made the best of it, that he had lived the sort of life he was meant to live(Cather).

Paul’s character relates to the central idea because he is an example of a person who was not accepted by others and fell down on a dark path of no

redemption.
The setting in “Paul’s Case” begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It then changes to New York City for the second half of the short story. The setting in “Paul’s Case” was chosen for a reason. It began in Pittsburgh because it is an industrial city with a history of steel production. This gives readers an image of a grey city built on industry, working-class families rather than art and culture. Paul’s favorite thing in life was being an usher for Carnegie Hall, so he can admire the performers and listen to the music. New York City is the hub of stage related culture such as musical theatre, dramatic plays, and the opera. It’s also a city that is well known for its fashion, high class people, and luxury. The story was published in 1905, which gives an area of working in a steel industry a dry and dull atmosphere to live in. “Paul’s Case” is set in winter and in Literature it is associated with death. The setting relates to the central idea by giving readers the idea that the city Pittsburgh that Paul was living in gave him a dull and dry sense of reality and when he found Carnegie Hall, it gave color to his life, with music and opera’s. When Paul decides to travel to New York City, he begins to travel towards his reality, towards the color of life. The story was set in winter which forebodes death, so all his circumstances added up and caused him to make up his mind and commit suicide. This means that Paul’s was destined to commit suicide with the environment he was living in and the season it was.
Overall, “Paul’s Case” is an example of what will happen if we don’t accept others around us for who they are, and how Paul was lead down a dark path of no redemption. The point of view relates to the central idea by giving us a picture of what Paul life was and what he was through from the perspective of the narrator. The central character Paul relates to the central idea by showing readers what type of life he lived and how he wasn’t accepted by society in Pittsburgh, so he fell down a dark path of suicide with no redemption at life again. The setting in “Paul’s Case” relates to the central idea by telling readers that the environment around Paul shaped him, the season represented what was to come, and his dream of music and opera give the more depth to the central idea. Paul’s case. The central idea Willa Cather was presenting to her audience intended to show readers that different people, feel and think differently, and we shouldn’t try to make others feel like an outcast.