Sunday, June 5, 2011

Cather, Willa. "Paul's Case."

http://cather.unl.edu/ss006.html

4 comments:

  1. This story to me was a bit confusing, I do not know if it was the way I read and comprehended it or what. It seemed to me that Paul was in some a religious dwelling where he had to abide by rules of this father, teachers, as well as the church. To me, Paul seemed as though this was not the life that he wanted to live and therefore he found peace and pleasure in the theatre and the concert hall. For a moment I felt as though Paul may have been a homosexual by the way he acted in the story. What was ironic to me through this story is that they continued to mention the color red as a symbol into Paul’s life. Reading through the rest of the story, I don’t know if Paul actually went to New York and living the life that he had always imagined to live or if he was indeed dreaming to being in New York and seeing all the things and luxury that he could have and suddenly the pleasurable dream turned into a nightmare and he awakened and found himself in his room or in the basement of his house on Cordelia Street. In the beginning of the story, though, Paul’s teachers talk about his behavior which they never mentioned but always said that there was something wrong with. I wonder if the death of his mother took a toll on him and he behaved in whatever mysterious way his teachers said he had behave and why all of a sudden the people around him, the theatre, the concert hall, his father, and Charles Edward has nothing else to do with him.

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  2. I found it very interesting that the main character of this story was male. I read My Antonia by Willa Cather and the story was told from the first person point of view, which was male. Personally, I think that must take a lot of confidence to take on that sort of task.
    Also, I noticed that Paul referenced several times that he hated the yellow wallpaper in his room. This must have represented some of the feelings that he has towards the confinement of his parents' house. I'm sure this mentioning of yellow wallpaper was not accidental.
    The conclusion of this story was incredibly sad. I had a feeling that Paul would kill himself, but I was still hoping that he wouldn't do it.
    I see where Erika is coming from when she said that maybe he never went to New York. Maybe it was just one big fantasy as is his custom to do. I'm not convinced that this is case because this was written before the time of postmodernistic writing where realities were often blurred. But, who knows? Maybe Willa Cather was ahead of her time.

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  3. After I read “Paul’s Case,” the only thing I could think was, “this boy is crazy.” I couldn’t make sense of his stealing money and running away, nor could I make sense of his tragic suicide. However, after pondering all day over this young boy’s escapades I came, in my own opinions, to a conclusion—a sort of diagnosis. Paul was restless. His restlessness caused him to create a world in which he could stretch his legs and fulfill his greatest desires. How ridiculously parallel is Paul’s life to the women’s lives at this time? A life that society had laid ground work, and its members where expected to conform to.

    Cather refused to simply accept her role as “woman.” She, instead of writing about a strong female character, chose to make a statement by creating Paul, who, putting it mildly, defied the laws of society. Paul was a boy with dreams bigger than he was allowed. He was absolutely overcome with restlessness. His father had decided the boy that Paul should be without his consent. Paul was instructed, whether it was said blatantly or not, to mimic the life of the family man that lived next door. Knowing he had bigger plans for himself, the thought of living this life on Cordelia Street utterly disgusted him.

    Feeling as if he had no other choice, Paul created a world in which he was able to live the life he loved. Although his world lasted only eight days, Paul, it seemed to me, lived more abundantly within the walls of this fantasy than he had in all of his previous years. Totally consumed by this lifestyle, the idea of returning to Cordelia Street seemed completely impossible. After living, how could he return to death—spiritual death? Unable to cope with this pending doom, Paul ended this restlessness by jumping in front of a train. His last memories were memories of life in New York, and to him, anything less was unacceptable.

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