Paul's Case Analysis

Kelby Watkins
Paul’s Case
Pg 134- 1-8

1) Through the critical approach through the eyes of a clinicians case study, I examined the protagonist, Paul, and his source of conflict, or the antagonist, society. In this story, society can be defined as his father, Cordelia Street and all those who lived there and held him down. The protagonist is introduced to the reader as a trouble maker who’s gotten kicked out of school. The first hint we get that something might be wrong with the protagonist, is when the teachers remembering Paul’s dislike for physical contact, and shielding himself from lectures and constantly looking out the window. The next piece of information the reader receives is that, “Paul is always smiling, always glancing about him...and has forced animation in his eyes.” The provides the reader with a continuing sense that something is wrong, perhaps depression, or an anxiety disorder. The protagonist continually loses himself to his own mind, and when he hears music of any sort, he feels, “a sudden zest for life... he forgets,” and after the music ends, “his irritableness returns.” When the protagonist feels the need to return home, he feels nervous, anxious, and, “more absolutely unequal.” Paul seems to fear the wrath of his father, and is terrified to wake him up, for fear what the consequences will be. The protagonist is also afraid to approach his father with very simple questions. But then we’re given the knowledge that Paul gets the spark for life, “much more quickly from music.” Paul just wants to, “float on the wave of it, to be carried out, blue league, away from everything.” The protagonist then travels to New York City and Paul states, “he realized that he had always been tormented by fear, a sort of apprehensive dread...” The protagonist then spends the next 8 days, “living the life that he was always meant to live.” In the beginning of the story, Paul does not like living in the grunginess of his home and revels in the life he’s able to live, even if for a short time. Then, the protagonist’s joy at finally finding a sort of peace within himself and the world comes abruptly to an end when he finds out that his father is coming to take him back home and all that dread, and fear and anxiety and depression that had plagued Paul for so long came back in a rush. He describes himself as, “succumbing to attacks of nausea...having weak knees...sweat breaking out upon his face,” and his old forced expressions and emotions come back as he looks in the mirror. The protagonist ends up deciding to end his life, not wanting to go back to the life that had held him down so forcefully and that had inflicted so much pain.
2) Cather presents Paul as a juvenile delinquent in the opening of the story. I believe that Cather does this because he wants us, the reader to grow with Paul throughout the story. Paul grows in the sense that he gains the courage to leave home and live the live that he’s always wanted and finally leave the world of pain, anxiety and depression behind him throughout the story. As we the readers learn more about him, we begin to grow with Paul, in the sense that while at the beginning of the story we feel the same way that the teachers do, that he’s got something wrong with him and that he’s just a nobody who’s not going to do anything with his life. But, as the story progresses, I began to feel the same way Paul did. The freedom that comes with finding yourself and finding something that you love and chasing after it and leaving the pain of the world behind even if for a short time. At the beginning, I was skeptical about Paul and as more was revealed about him, I began to feel for him, and relate to him because at times, I feel exactly the same way as Paul does about music and about the world.
3) When Paul is at the concert and when he hears the music, he says that, “he loses himself.” He says, “he had a sudden zest for life.” He describes the scene and his emotions while at the concert. He sees, “the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor.” Paul forgets the nastiness of his teachers and the kids at school. He describes the soloist as, “having an indefinable air of achievement, that world shine upon her, which always blinded him to any possible effects.” Paul says that when he usually leaves concerts, he’s irritable but when he leaves this particular concert, he says that he feels that he can’t be let down, and not being able to give up his excitement from the happiness that he’s feeling.
4) In the story, Pittsburgh seems dull, dreary and unwelcoming, full of people who don’t care enough about the beauty in life, while New York City seems to be a magical world that is filled with beauty and welcomes those who appreciate it. To Paul, Pittsburgh is his own personal hell. He hates everything about it. In the story, it’s described as chilly, which describes the environment Paul lives in as well as the attitude of those towards him and him towards society. It’s also late afternoon heading into the evening, signaling a sort of darkness coming towards Paul. He has difficulty sleeping, and the pain and the fear and the anxiety that he has during the day comes on full blast at night. When Paul goes to New York, it’s snowing. Snow has the ability to cover up the flaws and the impurities of the world. It also reminds us of our own purity. Snow has the ability to calm one down. All of these have significance because Paul doesn’t like dirty, ugly things. He likes to see the beauty in the world. In New York, Paul is such a different person because the worries that plagued him in Pittsburgh have no hold on him in New York. He even says one of his favorite things to do is to watch the snow fall from his window.
5) I think that Paul makes his choices because he wants a better life than the one he’s living now. I think that he hates the fact in his own world, “the natural nearly always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seems to him necessary in beauty.” He says that he wants, “to see, to be in the atmosphere, float on the wave of it, to be carried out, blue league after blue league. away from everything.” I think that that’s the reason he makes his decisions. He looking to get away from everything bad. He doesn’t want to be plagued by his worries and fears and anxiety and so he’s looking for a world where he can just be at peace.
6) I think that Cather didn’t want to write a regular short story. I think that she was obviously more interested in providing a case study of a suicidal young man. Each piece of story explains motivation and reasons for Paul’s suicide at the end of the story. When Paul jumps in front of the train, there are a number of reasons that have built up for his action: the death of his mother, his longing to join the upper class, his idealized love for the arts, his homosexual tendencies, his alienation from society, and his impossible craving for money. All of these things together help show his reasons that it’s a case rather than a story. The story seems to be recounting the story maybe for the father to read, for the police to read. There is also speculation in the story which helps the idea that it’s a case because it suggests that the author doesn’t have all the answers. They aren’t sure of the reasons of Paul doing what he does and what and how he thinks.
7) I think that I was able to relate to Paul because of how humanly he was portrayed. He wasn’t just a delinquent, he was someone who had problems, but wanted more out of life. I was able to relate to him because I know how he feels, not the suicide part, but being able to get lost in your own head, having such love for music and the death of a loved one who was so dearly important to you. These human qualities are ones that many people have, which is why I believe that I, and so many others were able to relate to Paul. Personally, I think that he was courageous to, despite the consequences and the problems that he has, he sought out his better life and even though is didn’t last long and he wasn’t part of it completely, he still felt more at peace than he had before. I also can relate to Paul because when I came to college, I became really depressed and I have really really bad anxiety, so I know how he feels. But like I said, I’ve never been suicidal and never will be because like my dad says, “It’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” That is what I’ve never understood. There’s so much to live for and even if times get so bad it doesn’t seem like it, I’d hope that I would always know I had something to live for.
8) I believe that Paul is static and dynamic. I personally feel that he grows throughout the story. I believe this because he doesn’t just stay this same gloomy, suicidal character that is stereotypical of people who are suicidal. He has things that he loves, things that he does want to live for. I think that he commits suicide because he fears that his newfound peace is going to be taken away, or the fact that he realizes that the things that he wants to live for are out of reach. I think that maybe he realizes that he’ll never be able to reach the upperclass or that he’s too odd, and those thoughts being paired with the fact that his father is coming and he desperately fears the consequences. I believe that these thoughts and his inner struggle that makes his a dynamic character. I think that he’s a very deep thinker and he just wants more to be happy.