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Paul's Case A Study In Temperament Analysis

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There have been many great pieces of Literature since the Civil War and a Paul’s Case a Study in Temperament by Willa Cather is one of those great pieces of literature. The prevailing theme in Paul’s Case a Study in Temperament reflects the struggles that many people go through with accepting their social class and wanted to be a part of higher society. The Author Willa Cather is able to portray many of the social issues that still plague us as a society today in this piece of literature that was first published back in 1905. This essay will discuss many of the relevant social topics that were addressed in this short story and are still very relevant today.
In the very beginning of the story the teachers were rather confused by Paul’s appearance. Paul presents himself in a very calm and confident manner despite his clothes being in somewhat disrepair. “Paul entered the faculty room suave and smiling. His …show more content…

Paul has a constant struggle inside of wanted to be more, be able to enjoy the finer things in life and to not just settle for being called middle class. Paul is ashamed of his social status and after spending one night as an usher at Carnegie Hall, Paul’s distaste for everything around him continued to grow. “The nearer he approached the house, the more absolutely unequal Paul felt to the sight of it all; his ugly sleeping chamber; the cold bathroom with the grimy zinc tub, the cracked mirror, the dripping spiggots; his father, at the top of the stairs, his hairy legs sticking out from his night-shirt, his feet thrust into carpet slippers.”(Cather 148) So much of one’s worth is placed on their possessions in life and not in fact on their contributions in life. This still holds true in society today and is something the character of Paul would continue to struggle with throughout the

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Paul’s desire for success in assimilating into the higher-class mirrors Richard Rodriguez’s expanded “Scholarship Boy” by mimicking his mentors, Paul uses Trent Conway’s teachings by trying to “be like his teachers, to possess their knowledge, to assume their authority, their confidence, even to assume a teacher’s persona” (Rodriguez 552). Thus, Paul uses his ability to mimic and act like a scholarship boy by adopting the language of the dominate culture to blend into higher-class lifestyle. Trent Conway becomes Paul’s mentor by teaching Paul the mannerism and language of Trent’s peers at Harvard University and their families. Also, Paul repeated exactly Trent’s teaching to Rick and Elizabeth on adopting the language of

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Life is full of decisions, but they are subconsciously influenced by society. This influence has created an unhealthy relationship between social classes. How people choose to act is in complete correlation to society’s set expectation for a certain class. These actions then become reflections of people’s moral values. In Tony McAdam’s criticism of The Great Gatsby, Ethics in Gatsby, he points out the corruption of characters morals due to society’s influence and the impact that has on decision making.

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(pg 82). This evidence infers that during an emergency Paul was brave and jumped in to help others. He became a leader and faced down his fear, which made his self-confidence

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At the beginning of the novel, Paul is Fearful. For example on page 42 Paul says “I’m afraid,” Paul is very terrified. For instance in the beginning of the book, Mr. Fisher states “ Erik’s down at the other end. And you have two guest rooms in between. You guys should never hear each other,” (5) to Paul.

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Paul’s Case, as alluded to earlier is a story about a certain young man who is a Calvinist and he is clouded by feelings of not belonging to this life. According to the story he lived on a street named Cordelia located in Pittsburgh, and we are given an impression of a street cluttered with cookie cutter houses and city dwellers that seemed like suburbanites. According to the author, there was an aura of despair in that city. This same aura extended even to Paul’s own room. His life was a life of misery having been surrounded by a father that abused him, teachers that never cared and classmate that misunderstood him and this caused Paul to feel he is not worth to be in their presence or even company.

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“He was now entirely rid of his nervous misgivings, of his forced aggressiveness, of the imperative desire to show himself different from his surroundings. He felt now that his surroundings explained him” (Cather). Paul finally feels like he fit in. On his eighth day in New York, Paul’s father gets wind of the crime Paul committed. Paul learns that his father has paid his debt in full and is now coming to New York to find him and bring him home.

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Layers of illusions are burned away and all Paul has left is reality. In Willa Cather’s tragic short story “Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament,” the flowers capture the reality world Paul departs from. For instance, critic Sherry Crabtree asserts that the red carnation symbolizes Paul’s alienation from the world of Cordelia Street (Crabtree 206). Crabtree observes the patterns of how the flowers reveal Paul’s negative outlook on life. On the other hand, some critics claim that the flowers capture the fantasy world Paul envisions.

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