Identity In Paul's Case, By Willa Cather

Finding yourself is apart of the journey and struggles of high school, and being a young person trying to find a strong sense of identity can be one of the toughest struggles to face. In Willa Cather’s short story, Paul’s Case, developing a stronger sense of self is troubling for art-loving Paul. Desperate and money-obsessed, Paul escapes the industrial city of Pittsburgh to live his luxurious fantasy in New York city. Paul’s creativity, pretentiousness and unhappiness play a large role in his downfall and ultimately leading to his tragic end. Paul moves through Pittsburgh quite differently than his peers and father, he never seemed to fit in at school or at home. The only thing that made him feel contempt was being surrounded by art and the atmosphere of class. He has a very unlikely view that the theatrical world is full of luxury and elegance and uses this as a sort of escapism from his dreary life in Pittsburgh. Paul spends most of his time where he enjoys himself most,

From the beginning, Paul makes it known that he is unhappy with his mediocre life on Cordelia Street. Whenever “he turned into Cordelia Street he felt the waters close above his head.” (Cathers 94) Because of his unhappiness back home, he makes risky decisions such as stealing money from the company he works for and fleeing to New York City. When he arrived in New York, Paul bought himself a gun because he foresaw that he might need “a way out”. When Paul’s affair exploded in the Pittsburgh papers, he showed no regard to his father paying the firm for what he had stolen or that his father set out to go find him. What Paul was really concerned about was that “all the world had become Cordelia Street.” (Cathers 105) In the end, Paul spends a lot of time contemplating his suicide staring at the revolver he had bought but told himself that wasn’t his way out. He later takes his own life by jumping in front of a moving