“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” By Willa Cather Part 1 – background and character


Willa Cather :Willa Cather Born in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia, she moved with her family to Red Cloud, Nebraska, when she was nine. After graduating from the University of Nebraska in1895, Cather moved to Pittsburgh, PA, where she worked as a journalist, editor, and teacher.


Willa Cather :Willa Cather In 1906 she accepted a position as editor of McClure's magazine in New York City. Cather spent the remaining 40 years of her life in New York City.


Willa Cather :Willa Cather In Pittsburgh, Cather taught English and Latin. In 1905 she published her first book of short stories, The Troll Garden, which included "Paul's Case."


Willa Cather :Willa Cather Cather won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 1922. She also received honorary degrees from University of Nebraska, University of Michigan, University of California, and Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and Creighton universities.


Willa Cather :Willa Cather Cather died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage on April 24, 1947, in her New York City apartment.


Willa Cather :Willa Cather Cather is buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, on the hillside spot that she had selected. The inscription on her tombstone reads: WILLA CATHERDecember 7, 1876 - April 24, 1947 THE TRUTH AND CHARITY OF HER GREAT SPIRIT WILL LIVE ON IN THE WORK WHICH IS HER ENDURING GIFT TO HERCOUNTRY AND ALL ITS PEOPLE.". . . that is happiness; to be dissolvedinto something complete and great."From My Ántonia


Paul’s Case :Paul’s Case Story information/analysis


“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” In 1943, 38 years after the story’s original publication, Cather admitted that its origins had to do with a nervous student she had encountered in one of her Latin classes who, to make himself interesting and important, bragged about his friends in a local acting company.


“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” The story also had to do with her own feelings about the glamour of New York City and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel which she visited occasionally during the years she lived in Pittsburgh.


“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” Another source for the story had to do with a sensational and much-reported incident that also occurred during this period when two local boys stole their employer’s money and ran off to Chicago, only to be found a week later, broke and living in the Auditorium Hotel, a fancy hotel in Chicago.


“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” “Paul’s Case” was published in a collection of stories entitled The Troll Garden in 1905. Note the title—Paul is a “case,” and we get a glimpse into his life. A “case” is generally meant to be solved.


“Paul’s Case” :“Paul’s Case” The subtitle, "A Study in Temperament," suggests a psychological perspective (possibly sympathetic), as an examination of Paul’s unique personality.


Paul :Paul Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case”


Paul :Paul Paul lives in 2 worlds: “the exotic, tropical world of shiny glistening surfaces” “the flavorless, colorless mass of everyday existence”


Paul :Paul His teachers all take their turns attacking Paul, but he remains composed. At school Paul is perceived as “contemptuous and irritating” and insolent. His drawing teacher sees that “there is something wrong” and “sort of haunted” about Paul.


Paul :Paul Paul does not fit his expected role: Avoidance of being touched Style of dress - his clothes never fit him correctly Mannerisms are misunderstood Isolation from other ushers Theft of money from his job


Paul :Paul Paul is BOTH defiant and sensitive He is BOTH apathetic and overly romantic Paul’s imagination allows him to escape into art and music


Paul :Paul Paul’s imagination draws him away from reality. He prefers the artificial to the real: "Perhaps it was because, in Paul's world, the natural nearly always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty."


Paul :Paul What, if anything, is “wrong” with Paul? Family: he has lost his mother and he fears his father. School: he is misunderstood by his insensitive teachers and classmates Peers: he does not fit in; some have suggested Paul is gay and therefore not like the majority of the boys he knows.


Paul :Paul Paul shows no remorse for his theft He sees the luxurious life as “what all the struggle was about” and wonders how any honest men exist. He is released from "the necessity of petty lying, lying every day" and spends eight happy, fulfilling days before news of his theft appears in the Pittsburgh papers. Could this really be about money? Or about money providing an escape/the ability to escape one’s reality?


Paul :Paul Cather's characterization of Paul is ambivalent. Is Paul… A misunderstood boy in a hostile environment, victim of cruelty and circumstance, whose misery leads to self-destruction?


Paul :Paul Cather's characterization of Paul is ambivalent. Is Paul… An extraordinarily sensitive young man who understands his misalignment and therefore chooses to end his life after living his dream?


Paul :Paul Cather's characterization of Paul is ambivalent. Is Paul… A foolish, immature youth, a dreamer who died with “all his lessons unlearned” ?


Part 2 coming soon! :Part 2 coming soon! End of Intro. to “Paul’s Case” -