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Short Story Paul's Case

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On October 1st, 2015, there was a mass shooting on a community college campus in Roseburg, Oregon, in which several people were injured and killed by a shooter named Chris Harper Mercer. At 10:30 am, Mercer entered a writing class and started asking all of the students to stand and state their religion. Regardless of their answer, the person was shot. If the student responded saying they were Christian, they were shot in the head. If they responded with anything else, they were shot in the foot. He was accounted by his peers to be “a lonely man who seethed with disdain for religion and had an interest in guns” (Frosch et al.). Although the events that take place in the short story “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather are not identical to the events …show more content…

“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. Paul was beginning to feel the pressure; he knew he would soon have to return to Pittsburgh and settle back into his monotonous life “...and it was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run” (Cather). Paul thinks about the flowers he saw on his first day in New York. He compares his own short, but elaborate, escape with the short life of the beautiful flowers on his journey back to Cordelia Street. While dosing off on an overpass, Paul is awakened by the sound of an approaching train. When the time is right, Paul jumps from the overpass and “falls back into the immense design of things,” ending his life (Cather). After Chris Harvey Mercer walked into a classroom and killed nine people, he also took his own life. He too realized that “it was a losing game in the

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Since many people look down upon Paul, he notices facts and clues society does not, however, he fears saying something, in which causes his friend to end up dying Within the story, Paul lives in his own bubble, disconnected from the world and society, so he knows what others do not. It is as if Paul lives in the sun and knowledge of the world, baring that burden while others in society live in darkness with a slight sliver of light from the moon, believing they know the world to its full extent when in reality they are blind and in the dark. This affects Paul since he possesses ideas from another point of view that others have no clue about. This is important because without the knowledge that Paul posses, he would be like his none the wiser parents, which

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“Paul is Dead!” (Said Fred) was written by Alan Glenn. In 1969 there was a rumor that went around a college campus about one of the Beatles singers, Paul McCartney, was dead and died from a car crash 3 years prior to the rumor. In this passage Glenn has pointed out that McCartney’s death had been covered up, Fred LaBour figuring out the apparent truth, and the clues that were left about his death. The article from November 2009, written by Alan Glenn, discovers the beginnings of the long-lasting rumor: “Paul is Dead,” Glenn stated from the article that McCartney’s death had been covered up.

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His father also questions him and this is hard for Paul because he just wants to put his experiences aside and enjoy his time at home. He isn’t as comfortable with his family compared to his comrades. This is because he can’t relate to them anymore. After all, he is not the same person he once was. He can’t interact with his mother, father, or sister like he used to.

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Although Paul got expelled he found some truth in himself. Also in the student's eyes, Paul was no longer a loser. This is when Paul finally feels comfortable in his own skin. Clearly, Paul’s character is affected by him jumping on the coach’s back.

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Paul’s Case The realist short story, Paul’s case: a study in temperament, written by Willa Sibert Cather, carries a distant tone as it reviews Paul’s case of suspension. Paul was a tall skinny lad who lived a normal life, although he himself thought it to be too banal. To escape from this reality paul would enclose himself in the Theatre and Arts, where he found comfort in being “important”. Paul strived to be viewed as such, so much he felt to lie to himself and others to make his life seem more momentous in nature. While Paul’s case is not a tale of romance, paul is characterized as delusional as well as a romantic through the use of diction.

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Throughout the story Paul shows that he cares about his comrades by protecting them from the dangers of war, and he also displays that he will guide them in war. Paul uses his skills of intelligence to guide his team in the trenches and at the front, and he passes on his knowledge and tricks of war to the new recruits. Not many soldiers have all of these qualities, which makes Paul stand out more than his comrades. Even today some men don't express the passion and leadership Paul shows in All Quiet on the Western Front, which brings up the fact that the war needs more men like Paul. To sum up, Paul is an honest and true man who will always be there for his comrades when needed, and he is a man the troops are proud to say is a patriotic

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When Paul and his comrades attempt to protect themselves from an incoming bombardment by the French, Paul reflects on how the war has come to “[fill] [them] with ferocity, [turn] [them] into thugs, into murderers, […] this wave that multiplies [their] strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but deliverance” (Remarque 114). The author utilizes the words “murderers” and “thugs” to emphasize how the soldiers have turned into inhumane, barbaric humans while participating in the war. This callous characterization suggests that Paul acts instinctively without considering his actions and the guilt that follows. The fact that Paul chooses to describe himself with such a demoralized character demonstrates how he has abandoned his morality into becoming a merciless soldier who feels no remorse for his brutal actions. In addition, Paul’s determined tone of “fighting for nothing but deliverance” indicates that he no longer has an interest in the lives of others, but only for his own survival.

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The Paul in which we see on a day to day basis is sad and disrespectful, while the Paul we see at Carnegie Hall and in New York is full of life and an obedient young man. The differences in his character are evident in the disparity between his personality at his safe haven, Carnegie Hall, and at the place he dreads most, school. At school, Paul is described as “impertinent” and “disorderly”. To the contrary, at Carnegie Hall, Paul is described as a “model usher” (2) and all the people in his section “[think he is] a charming boy”(2). Paul’s contempt for his teachers originates from their inability to relate to him and accept him.

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There are mentions of incidents involving Paul and his major temper early on, as well as an internal dialogue vaguely hinting that Paul does not seem to care for the majority of individuals, but it is revealed further on that Paul wears a façade of emotion in order to mask that apathy. When directly challenged and angered, Paul truly believes that he is above any person in his way. During the chapter where Paul is beating Serge with a pan, he pauses only when, “Michel was standing in the doorway. He wasn’t looking at his uncle on the floor, but me. ‘Michel,’ I said.

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But by temporarily moving to a different place, with more compatible people, cultures, and societal standards, the unwanted attention can change to a welcoming one. Moreover, the welcoming attention is what Paul has been going after, to be seen as someone cool yet similar enough to feel included. For Paul, that place is New York. There, he is comfortable enough to wear what he wants and not feel humiliated. Compared to the illusion back in Cordelia Street created by bluff and lies, he is being true to himself.

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The author states, Paul was always smiling, always glancing about him, seeming to feel that people might be watching him and trying to detect something. This conscious expression, since it was as far as possible from boyish mirthfulness, was usually attributed to insolence or "smartness."(Cather) Paul would then exaggerate his life to others as if it were the greatest, most extravagant life there was to live among the theater and actors. He was building his ego. Consequently, it’s quite possible that the early death of his mother left him without a source of the love he needed to sustain his ego, so he had to create a grander

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Paul is a main character in the story called Paul’s Case, written by Willa Cather. Paul is an outcast, he tries his best to fit into social situations, but always falls short. He struggles with personal connections because he is addicted to artwork, money, and fame. He is a liar, a thief, and a suffer of extreme self-centeredness and suicidal thoughts. And because of these characteristics, he feels like he is on the outside of a world which he does not fit into.

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We will learn that Paul is reborn in the way that he has transformed himself into a magician, and his name is also changed to Faustus Legrand from Paul Dempster. He can now speak various languages. Unlike before, he is not so pleased to see Dunstan, and does not want to see her mother that his birth drove his mother mad, and that he does not wish to revisit the sadness of his past. We can see that Paul has created his own, separate identity from the one he was born with. Paul was not a village favourite, and many people disliked him for being the queer and persistently unfortunate but now many people attend his shows to watch him do magic tricks.

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