More Than Money: How Class Affects Opportunity In Paul's Case

More Than Money: How Class Affects Opportunity in “Paul’s Case”
Money cannot buy happiness. This famous proverb initially provides a comforting idea; that life is worth more than wealth. However, Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” provides a more unsettling take on this proverb. Cather asserts that the upper class has more than just money. They have a radically different set of societal expectations and standards, allowed the privilege of exclusive pastimes, such as the fine arts. Paul exemplifies the consequence of when someone of a lower socioeconomic status enjoys entertainment seemingly limited to only high-class elites. Paul, like many, chases after the idea that purely increasing his wealth can give him a life around the fine arts, but he fails
Paul believes that money can solve everything, but the unfortunate truth is that money cannot buy him an escape from his future as an unexceptional clerk or a life where he can experience music and fine arts because he does not enjoy the luxuries of the upper class. His class dictates more than just what he can buy and own, it dictates who he can be and what he can do. The unfortunate truth in Paul’s case is that he has no real escape from his class because the larger constraints of his class are intangible and inescapable with money or physical goods. Consequently, he will never be in place doing the one thing he loves, going to orchestra concerts. The same concept holds true even today. Upper class people live by a completely different set of standards based on perception, not wealth. A rich man drinking is a perceived connoisseur of fine wine, but a poor man drinking is a perceived alcoholic. The unfortunate truth of “Paul’s Case” is that all of the money in the world cannot change how others view what a person can and cannot experience based on their class, and breaking these standards is extremely difficult if not