Paul's Case by Willa Cather-An Analysis
Cather's Most Significant Short Story About Spirituality VS Reality
Sep 5, 2009
Paul, a Pittsburgh student, faces expulsion from school with a nonchalance and insolence that bewilders his father. He just doesn’t seem to fit in, though his teachers cannot quite pinpoint why. His dreams and goals seem to differ from their expectations of him.
Paul's Case-The Storyline
Paul’s life on Cordelia Street is filled with images of drabness, of yellow wallpaper, of the traditional role models of Washington and Calvin that hang above his bed. His only escape is his forays into the world of art and the theater. “It was at the theater and at Carnegie Hall that Paul really lived; the rest was but a sleep and a forgetting.” This idealized world becomes more real and desirable to him than his actual life, and his everyday life is where he does his real acting.
Paul's Case – The Escape to New York
When opportunity arises, Paul steals a thousand dollars from his employer and flees to New York. Once there, he checks himself into the Waldorf Hotel, where he buys fine clothing and indulges in luxuries. But even there he’s on the outside looking in, an isolated observer.
The Unattainable Dream
Paul changed his environment but he wasn’t able to change himself. He may have believed when he got to the city his life would magically change, but there was no place for him there because he didn’t know how to make one for himself. His love and appreciation for art was real, but he had no solid goal. Instead of paying the price, he had taken the easy route of stolen money, but the result was that his new life was built on the sand, as much a fantasy as his trips to the theater.
Paul's Case – A Tragic Ending
Paul’s money is rapidly running out, and he has no foothold in his new life. When he discovers that his father has paid the debt and is on his way to New York to find him, he rebels once more. Knowing he has no choice but to return to a life he despises, he jumps in front of a train. As he is dying, vibrant images and colors flash before him.
Themes in Willa Cather's Short Stories
A recurring theme in Willa Cather’s works is the quest for spirituality. This was influenced by WW1 and the changing values of society. At the first of the story Paul is desperate to behold a better world than the one represented by the confines of the narrow-minded society in which he lives. Paul’s plight can be seen as that of the sensitive artist, who is conflicted between the need to survive in a work-ethic society and the desire for a finer life.
Paul wants to know there is a better world out there. He doesn't necessarily try to be a player in it. He only wants to know that art and beauty exist, and to experience it. He never actually finds what he is seeking, for like art, all things spiritual are elusive. It can only be glimpsed at times. In the end he realizes he must return and live without this vision and he cannot bear the thought.
Paul’s immaturity, his upbringing, his inability to cope, all contributed to his suicide. At the last moment, he realized he might have made a difference if he had not so hastily accepted defeat.
Another short story by Willa Cather with a similar theme is The Sculptor's Funeral.
Click here to read a biography of Willa Cather Literary Author of the Plains
Click this link to read a review of Death Come for the Archbishop
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