Paul s Unhealthy Desire in Pauls Case Essay -- Pauls Case Essays

Paul 's Unhealthy Desire in Paul's Case In her short story "Paul's Case," Willa Cather tells the tale of a young boy's struggle to separate himself from his common, everyday life and the people he shared it with. Paul admired the opulence of the theater, the wardrobe, the perfumes, the lights, the colors, the flowers, and the champagne. When he realized it wasn't possible to have these things, he threw his life away. Cather's purpose was to show that, by focusing on what he didn't have, Paul could not live at all. Many clues were given that Paul dreamed of leaving town. For instance, he was exhilarated by the Venetian scenes and streets of Paris depicted in the picture gallery. He loved to listen to his father speak of "palaces in Venice, yachts on the Mediterranean, and high play at Monte Carlo" (202). Also, when no one paid attention to his stories, Paul announced to his classmates that he would be leaving to travel for a while. These acts foreshadow Paul's fleeing to New York. The fact that he actually stole money to take this trip shows how intensely desperate he was to leave. By constantly fantasizing about being somewhere he wasn't, Paul could not possibly live where he was. Throughout the story, flowers are used to symbolize Paul's situation. The red carnation he wears to the meeting with his teachers is viewed by them as "flippant" and "scandalous" (195-196). This also suggests his attitude towards the gathering. Paul was very nonchalant about the entire thing. His clothes may have been a bit small and tattered, but by wearing that flower, Paul had no trouble holding his head up. He had always acted as if he were on a higher level than his teachers, and he felt it necessary to humiliate them and give them no s... ... of Adriatic water and the yellow of Algerian sands" (213). These are both natural images, both beautiful, and neither contain artificial elements. This is significant in that Paul spent his life focusing on the beauty of artificiality, but when I feel this sense of regret in Paul, this epiphany, it is too late. Paul stated a few times throughout the story that being in the atmosphere of luxury was "the only thing that could be called living at all" (198). He speaks of these times as "orgies of living," so I would imagine when he realized he could not afford that life, he felt that he could not live at all (200). Paul 's unhealthy desire for a life of luxury drove him to believe that his ordinary life was not worthy of existence. Work Cited Cather, Willa. "Paul's Case." Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Ed. R.S. Gwynn. New York: Addison-Wesley, 2002. 194-213.