Paul's Case


"Paul's Case" is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in McClure's Magazine in 1905 under the title "Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament" and was later shortened. It also appeared in a collection of Cather's stories, The Troll Garden. For many years "Paul's Case" was the only one of her stories that Cather allowed to be anthologized.

Overview

was known to be a place that one can adventure to. It was the center of fine living and society, and “the symbol of ultimate glamour and cosmopolitan sophistication at that time.”
The symbol of the New York lifestyle in "Paul's Case" is the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The descriptions of New York City contrast the descriptions of Paul's home, Pittsburgh, which he despises.
Paul, a Pittsburgh high school student, is frustrated with his dull middle-class life. This frustration mixed with a desire of a luxurious lifestyle makes Paul anxious to make a perfect way of living. This causes him to purposely separate himself from everyone else leading to feelings of isolation. Paul could also display signs of depression due to personal experiences. His attitude with himself and others could be an indication of the effects Paul faced from his mothers death. Paul is uninterested in many things, and struggles with his emotions. While his appreciation of the arts is more social and superficial than aesthetic, he dreams of another life in which he would attend concerts and theater. For example, he enjoys a symphony concert not so much for the music, but for the atmosphere: "the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor." Later on in the story, he steals money from where he works to support a short escapade in New York City. Once he exhausts his funds and his father catches wind of what has happened, he commits suicide by jumping in front of a train rather than allow his father to take him back to Pittsburgh.
Paul's teachers and father refer to Paul as a "case", representing him at a distance and as an example of someone to be studied, handled, and managed; the term enables Cather to adopt "the voice of medical authority." Paul seems to display some symptoms of a narcissistic personality disorder but that is still in high debate.

Plot summary

The short story “Paul’s Case,” is about a young boy who struggles to fit in at home and in school. The story began with the reader finding out the main character, Paul, is suspended from high school. He meets with his principal and teachers who complain about Paul's "defiant manner" in class and the "physical aversion" he exhibits toward his teachers. One of Paul's teachers also mentions that Paul's mother died back when he was a child in Colorado; which is later shown to be of importance. Paul works as an usher for Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh. His job is one of the only parts of his life he enjoys. He stays for the concert and enjoys the social scene while losing himself in the music. After the concert, Paul follows the soloist and imagines life inside her hotel room. Unfortunately, the audience soon learns that Paul and his father have a poor relationship. Upon returning home very late one night, Paul enters through the basement window to avoid a confrontation with his father. Paul's relationship with his father is full of tension. While in the basement, Paul gets nervous that his father will come downstairs with a shotgun and kill him. Paul stays awake for the remainder of the night, imagining what would happen if his father mistook him for a burglar and shot him, or if his dad would recognize him in time. Not only does Paul wonder if his father will recognize him in time, but he also entertains the idea of his father possibly regretting not shooting him when he had the chance to do so.
Paul despises the people on Cordelia Street as they serve to remind him of his own lackluster life. Although his father considers him a role model for Paul, Paul is unimpressed by a plodding young man who works for an iron company and is married with four children. While Paul longs to be wealthy, cultivated, and powerful, He lacks the stamina and ambition to attempt to change his condition. Instead, Paul escapes his monotonous life by visiting Charley Edwards; a young actor. Later on, Paul makes it clear to one of his teachers that his job ushering is more important than his schoolwork, causing his father to prevent him from continuing to work as an usher.
Paul takes a train to New York City after stealing money from his dad's job. Paul buys an expensive wardrobe, rents a room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and walks around the city. He also meets a young boy from San Francisco who takes him on an all-night tour of the city's lively social scene. His few days of impersonating a rich, privileged young man, brought him more contentment than he had ever known because living a prosperous life is Paul's only hope and dream. However, on the eighth day, after spending most of his money, Paul read from a Pittsburgh newspaper that his theft has been made public. His father has returned the money and is on his way to New York City to bring Paul back home to Pittsburgh. Paul then reveals that he had bought a gun on his first day in New York City, and briefly considers shooting himself to avoid returning to his old life in Pittsburgh. Eventually, he decides against it and instead commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. Paul made the ultimate decision of taking his own life because the thought of returning to his old lifestyle was too much for him to handle.

Symbolism

Flowers: Flowers, such as a red carnation and violets, appear many times throughout the story. Since Paul sees everything as dull and boring, the flowers represent the desire that he has to find the beauty in life. The red carnation has also been found to be representative of Paul's detachment from society.
Embroidered hanging done by Paul's mother: This could represent Paul's yearning for love since both love and his mother are absent from his life.
Paul's suicide: Paul's decision to end his life by jumping in front of a train is thought to represent the impact that commercialization and industrialization have on Paul; who would rather lose himself in theater and music. Paul's choice to get hit by a train as his method of suicide also reflects his relationship with his father. Paul has the opportunity to use a gun to end his life; however, the gun belongs to his father. Paul had always feared his father, his choice to not use the gun shows that Paul doesn't want to give his father any more power over his life. He lived in the fear that his dad was going to kill him with that gun, his choice to not use it shows he is trying to distance himself and be different than his father.
Snowfall: Cather utilizes extensive imagery related to snowfall throughout "Paul's Case" in order to represent the coming of a richer lifestyle. The "whirling" motions of said snowfall occur several times; as Paul gazes out of the train window on his way to New York, as well as consistently throughout the time he is actually in the city. It's almost as if we as readers are as much in a fantasy world as Paul is himself. Note that on his way back from New York, he gazes out of the train window to see nothing of the sort besides the snow that has already fallen - A depressing representation that Paul's fantasy has come to an end.
Paul's Smile: There are several instances where Paul's smile is brought up in the story and a few different interpretations of what his smile symbolizes. When Paul has a meeting with his instructors and the principal, he puts on a smile. The narrator notes that other boys would be more afraid than Paul was and would most likely have given in to an emotional and remorseful response about their disruptive behaviors. Paul's smile in this circumstance displays his cocky attitude and shows that he doesn't care about what the authorities have to say to him. A different interpretation of Paul's smile arises from the detail where Paul's drawing master claimed there was, "something sort of haunted about ," which is a detail that is often used to support the idea that Paul's smile refers to him having a disability.
The Basement: During the story, Paul sneaks into his home through his basement and reflects on his relationship with his father. The condition of the basement has been found to represent the dark, antagonistic bond the two share.
Carnegie Hall: In the story, Paul works as an usher at Carnegie Hall where he shows his true personality and optimistic spirit. Paul tries to greet each customer and provide them with exceptional customer service. Besides, Paul loves watching the concerts and other social events that are happening at the Hall. Once Paul's father stopped him from working at the theater, Paul lost his sole outlet and place of comfort. Paul's connection to the theater developed because he acquired interest in the arts and it became a reliable place for him. The theater allowed him to develop creative skills that he did not gain at school. Being an usher at the theater helped Paul express himself and be around others who enjoyed the arts just like him. Paul was himself and he felt a level of sense of approval at the theater. This place may have given him the approval he was looking for in his household. Paul showed to have this love for the theatre but then had to hide it when he got home, "It was at the theatre and at Carnegie Hall that Paul really lived;". Paul felt at home and comfortable when he was at the theatre, which he could not find in his real home with his father.

Foreshadowing

The foreshadowing demonstrated in "Paul's Case" is seen in the carnations that Paul wears. Immediately before Paul kills himself, the carnations were "drooping with the cold...their red glory all over". The carnations symbolize Paul, so when the flowers die and are buried in the snow, it is hinting to the reader that Paul is about to die.
it lay on his dressing-table now; he had got it out last night when he came blindly up from dinner, but the shiny metal hurt his eyes, and he disliked the looks of the thing.

Literary criticism and significance

Paul's Case has been called a "gay suicide" for multiple reasons, including Paul's lack of a relationship with his father and the absence of a mother figure. Many critics have attributed his suicide to the forces of alienation and stigmatization facing a young homosexual man in early 20th-century America. In 1975, Larry Rubin wrote The Homosexual Motif which includes the reinterpretation of the story since the stigma on sex has eased. He identifies the hints dropped throughout the story that would lead the reader to believe Paul was homosexual. For example, the way Paul dresses. The violet water, and his choice of company are all pointed out by Larry Ruben as signs of feminine tendencies. Jane Nardin also explores the possibility that Paul's character is gay, and that this is a metaphor for a general feeling of being an outsider or not fitting in with a specific group of people. Author Roger Austen states that Paul might be portrayed as a homosexual character because of the "depiction of a sensitive young man stifled by the drab ugliness of his environment and places the protagonist in an American literary tradition of "village sissies." Paul has shown multiple signs of PTSD, a few are: “efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, and conversations,” “efforts to avoid activities, places and people that arouse recollections,” and considering the idea of his “foreshortened future… not expected to have a normal life span”. By, him going to New York to avoid his father and escape from his father who showed no pity, he displayed signs of PTSD.
Wayne Koestenbaum reads the story as a possible portrait of Willa Cather's "own desire for aesthetic fulfillment and sexual nonconformity." He also identifies the literary topos of opera queendom, commingled here as it often is with a suicidal sense of self-loss. Another critic, Tom Quirk, reads it as an exploration of Cather's belief in the "irreconcilable opposition" between art and life.
James Obertino of the University of Central Missouri and Rob Saari suggest that Paul displays several characteristics that suggest symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder according to the DSM-IV. Obertino also suggests that Paul may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Some signs that Obertino uses to suggest Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Paul are: "Diminished interest in significant activities", and "feelings of detachment or estrangement from others" as well as constant daydreaming from reality. Rubin also emphasizes Paul's detachment, which he calls "alienation." An Oxford Academic article highlights important signs of PTSD that Paul can relate to. Saari suggests Paul is "a prototypical case" of narcissistic personality disorder, as he meets nine out of nine criteria from the DSM-IV. Saari also suggests that because of this disorder, Paul needs to associate with people of a higher class. Another thing Saari states is that Paul "shows traits of vanity" to explain how full of himself he is and to connect it to narcissistic personality disorder.
Hayley Wilhelm of the University of New Haven, suggests the possibility that Paul has autism due to certain signs and symptoms he displays throughout the story. According to Wilhelm, when looking at the diagnostic criteria for autism provided by the American Psychiatric Association, Paul could be demonstrating actions or mannerisms that fall into the criteria. Some signs that he may have autism could be his ease with lying, his motor tics, and his sensitivity to touch.
In Modern Fiction Studies, writer Claude J. Summers suggests that Cather, herself being homosexual, chose to depict Paul as being homosexual due to her relationship with author Oscar Wilde. Wilde, an early critic of Cather's work, inspired several aspects of Cather's work on "Paul's Case."
Martha Czernicki of the University of New Haven suggests that Paul's trip to New York is a fantasy. Because of certain hints throughout the story and how fast Paul's life progresses after the night in the basement, he could have been dreaming and fantasizing about the life he wanted as a method of mentally escaping what was happening in his real life.

Adaptations

The story was the basis for a chamber opera in two acts with music by Gregory Spears to a libretto by Spears and Kathryn Walat. It premiered in April 2013 at the Artisphere in Washington, D.C. and was then performed for the PROTOTYPE opera festival in New York City, performed at HERE, 145 6th Avenue.
The story of Paul's Case was adapted into a TV movie in 1980, directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Eric Roberts.
Paul's Case was also released as a book-on-tape by HarperCollins in 1981.
In 1986, Paul's Case was released as an audiobook by Caedmon Audio Cassette