Pauls Case By Willa Cather Essays - Willa Cather, Pauls Case, Cather

Paul's Case by Willa Cather ?Paul's Case? A Symbolic Perception Imagine being entrapped in a life that you did not feel you belonged in. That is the story of Paul in ?Paul's Case,? written by Willa Cather. He lived in a suburban home where everyone seemed the same and there was a feeling of despair. Paul, who was a young man, felt that his father, teachers and classmates misunderstood him and therefore were unworthy of his company. In the story there are many symbolic elements. Flowers, for instance, symbolize Paul's personality and life. The parallel between the boy and the flowers is made by the author many times throughout the short story. In the beginning of the story Paul has a meeting with the teachers of his school because he was misbehaving. For the meeting Paul shows up wearing ?clothes [that] were a trifle outgrown . . . [with] a red carnation in his buttonhole? (49). This shows his total disrespect for authority because he is going to get disciplined; and the teachers thought this ?was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension? (49).? The flower he wore shows that he does not care about school or his teachers: his teachers felt ?that his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower? (50). The principal also noted his conceit as he left the meeting and bowed which was described to be ?a repetition of the scandalous red carnation? (51). It is almost as if the flower is his strength and reminds him of his need to be with a different class of people. Paul worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall. This was the only place where he really felt himself unfold. He became lost in the music, plays, and art. While Paul was at home, he would dream about the life he believed himself to be living as ?a morbid desire for cool things and soft lights and fresh flowers? (55). To Paul, people who enjoyed having the presence of flowers seemed to be of a higher class above the rest. That is why he always wore a flower. He describes his neighbourhood, the people he despises to be, ?prosy men who never wore frock coats, or violets in their buttonholes (pg. 60).? He would dream about, ?the flowers he sent (pg. 60),? to members of the stock company who were his ?acquaintances.? Paul wants to be as the flowers, living to all of their extent, saturating in the beauty of life. While Paul was in New York City one of the first things he did was ?[ring] for the bell boy [to send] him down flowers? (62). He was living out his dreams. He was pleased with his surroundings and his style of living during his days in New York and expressed his ?dearest pleasure [was] . . . his enjoyment of his flowers? (66), and goes on to say that he couldn't remember a time of such bliss. He loved all forms of creative expression and was intrigued by, ?whole flower gardens blooming behind glass windows, against which the snowflakes stuck and melted; violets, roses, carnations, lilies of the valley-somehow vastly more lovely and alluring that they blossomed thus unnaturally in the snow.? (64) The flowers induce a happiness in Paul at the time of his greatest revolution. During the last days of his stay in New York, Paul feels that his status is becoming dead and useless as his money runs out. He begins to die inside as with his authority shown by the violets he wears in his buttonhole. Paul expresses the symbolism between his life and the flowers: