Natasha Lindemann
Kelly Payne
Composition 2
16 February 2014
The Use of Color Imagery
Throughout the story “Paul’s Case”, there are many colors being used in the story. Colors are not only pigments but they can symbolize emotions and represent life situations. In “Paul’s Case”, Cather writes about a troubled boy that seems to have a lot on his mind then eventually kills himself.
Color Imagery is used in “Paul’s Case” to symbolize things. The colors are used to symbolize Paul’s feelings. The colors also tie to some places throughout the story in “Paul’s Case”. In the story, the author keeps mentioning flowers that are associated with different colors to symbolize something throughout the story
The color yellow symbolizes the repulsion Paul feels for his home. It depresses him whenever he is home. The yellow in his home is not the pretty looking yellow, it’s the common, ordinary yellow that is old, dingy and ugly. There are papered rooms and damp dishcloths. He also feels that school was repulsive to because there were bare floors and the walls were naked. He felt like it was a place he didn’t want to be at, just like he didn’t want to be at his home. Paul feels superior to the color yellow and the way it makes him feel. He deserves better. Paul feels as though he can’t stand “the sight of it all; his ugly sleeping chamber; the cold bathroom with the grimy zinc tub, the cracked mirror, and the dripping spigots” (Cather120).
The color blue is symbolizing comfort, soothing, and relaxing. Blue is the color of Paul’s dream world. He fantasizes about the opera, romance and finer things that don’t even exist in his life. The dream world eventually makes it impossible to live life in Pittsburgh. “He sits down before a “blue Rico” and ...
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...he cold weather. Paul then buries the carnations in the snow, a place he loves, right before leaping in front of the train. The carnation burial is symbolic because Paul commits suicide by jumping in front of a moving train.
Black is another color associated in Paul’s Case. Black is meaning darkness, loneliness, and death. As Paul rides out of town on the train, the black, dead weeds sticking out through the snow, signify his approaching death. “He can no longer endure his drab existence and decides to “finish the thing splendidly” (Cather132).
The colors mentioned throughout Paul’s case have many symbolic meanings. They either symbolize Paul’s feelings or they represent a place throughout it. The red carnation has a lot of meaning since it is associated with bravery and power. It also has meaning whenever Paul jumped in front of a train and committed suicide.
In regard to race, he says the he was “BORN IN SWITZERLAND__NEVER EXPERIENCED RACE” (PG). However, since Paul is not really the son of Sydney Poitier, who he claims to be his father, this imagination shows how he is trying to deny being black. However, at the end of the book, he finally admits a part of himself when he asks Louisa to bring him to jail, saying “if they don’t know you’re special, they kill you” (58). When Louisa tries to reassure Paul that this isn’t the case, Paul goes against all of his previous attempts to deny that he’s black, and says the elephant in the room: “Ms. Louisa Kittredge, I am black (58). Similarly, He aspires to be like the Kittredges, even going to museums, shown in his dream of living with them, being their son, and following in Flan’s footsteps. Expressing his own values by emphasis on imagination. Paul is the perfect example of creating an image for himself. He plays the extreme of what the Upper East Siders are doing in their everyday lives. He takes other peoples experiences, like the upper class does with their anecdotes, and uses them to make him come off as someone he’s not. He dresses up his appearance and does not understand or accept who he is on the inside.
Paul in “Paul’s Case” wanted to get away from the reality and the hostile environment he faced. He was sick of Pittsburgh and the middle-class, Cordelia Street, which he lived on. Although his mother past away, his home life was as normal as could be. This is something Paul hated, normality. At school he would tell other students false stories to try to make his life seem more interesting than theirs. This ultimately caused none of the other students like him, even the teachers lash out at him. Paul was suspended from school, but he didn’t mind. He found an interest in music and in art, although he knew his father would not approve. Paul’s father wanted him to be a business man, have a normal family and have an ordinary life. Although, having a normal, ordinary life was not what Paul had in mind for his future. He dreamt of much more which caused him to believe he would never get his father’s approval.
In ‘Paul’s Case’ Paul has created a fantasy world in which he becomes entranced, even to the point of lying to classmates about the tales of grandeur and close friendships that he had made with the members of the stock company. This fantasy falls apart around him as “the principle 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 theater was warned not to admit him to the house” (Cather 8). The fantasy fell apart further when the stories he had told his classmates reached the ears of the women of the stock company, who unlike their lavish descriptions from Paul were actually hardworking women supporting their families. Unable to cope with the reality of working for Denny & Carson, he stole the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank to live the life of luxury in New York. Only a person who felt backed into a corner would attempt something so unsound. After his eight days in paradise, he is again backed into a corner by the reality of his middle class upbringing, and the dwindling time he has before his father reaches New York to find him. The final way out for Paul is his suicide, for which an explanation would be “In the end, he fails to find his security, for it was his grandiose “picture making mechanism” that made his life so deardful.” (Saari). With all the securities of his fantasy life finally gone, his mental instability fully comes to light as he jumps in front of the train to end his
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