Willa Carther Paul's Case Summary

In “Paul’s Case” by Willa Carther, Paul is a very peculiar kid. Many readers make the assumption that Paul has a mental illness. Not only may he have a mental illness, his father does not support him. Along with his unsupportive father, he does not have anyone to turn to when he needs help. He has friends and people he can speak with at the theatre, but they do not compare to parents. All of these problems can cause an abnormality in an individual. Throughout the story, Carther shows the reader how unsupportive Paul’s father is. Not only does he not support Paul, his father compares him to people and wonders why Paul is not more like them. The author set up a scene to show the reader what Paul’s life is like by talking about the man that also lives on Cordelia Street. “He happened to be the young man who was daily held up to Paul as a model and after whom it was his father’s dearest hope most that he would pattern” (5). Following this example of his father, Paul is nervous to ask to go to Georges’ to work on geometry. Along with that, he is nervous to ask for money for a carfare. Based off of his father’s job and how they live, his father

In the story, the reader never receives examples of how his father corrects him or shows him how he needs to act. Possibly, Paul never realizes what his father is trying to do for him and finds it unimportant. The author did not mention Paul’s mother very often throughout the story. The only information the reader is told about his mother is when Paul’s teachers are conversing about him. One teacher mentions that his mother died when he was only two months old (2). There are no facts in the story to support this, but having a mother growing up is vital. Of course, countless kids grow up just fine without mothers and fathers. But in Paul’s case, his father mistreating him and growing up without a mother affects him in many