pauls case

A detailed Summary of pauls case

In the short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather the main character, Paul feels entrapped in a life he feels he doesn't belong in, due to the lack of love. Paul is overcome with feelings of despair because feels his father, teachers and classmates misunderstand him and are unworthy of his company.

In the beginning of the story Paul has a meeting with his teachers because he was misbehaving. Paul shows up for the meeting wearing "clothes [that] were a trifle outgrown...[with] a red carnation in his buttonhole". The teachers thought this "was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension". The flower shows Paul does not care about school or his teachers. His teachers feel "that his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower". The principal also noted his conceit as he left the meeting and bowed, described as "a repetition of the scandalous red carnation". It seems that the carnation is Paul's strengt

During his last days in New York, as his money runs out, Paul feels his status is becoming dead and useless. He begins to die inside as with his flower he wears in his buttonhole. Paul expresses the symbolism between his life and the flowers: "The carnations in his coat were drooping with the cold, he noticed all their red glory over. It occurred to him that all the flowers he had seen in the snow windows that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their mockery at the winter outside the glass. It was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run. Paul took one of the blossoms carefully from his coat and scooped a little hole in the snow, where he covered it up. The he dozed a while, from his weak condition, seeming insensible to the cold".

A flower's beauty does not last forever. Paul's experience with high-class life did not last forever. Paul's true happ

Some common words found in the essay are:
York Paul, Willa Cather, Carnegie Hall, York City, red carnation, , paul feels, paul meeting, forever paul's, flowers living,

Approximate Word count = 671
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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pauls case

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