Paul’s Case (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Willa Cather
- First Published: 1905
- Type of Plot: Character study
- Time of Work: 1905 or earlier
- Setting: Pittsburgh and New York City
- Principal Characters: Paul
- Genres: Short fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: Values, Traveling or travelers, Suicide, Music or musicians, Alienation, Hotels, motels, or inns, Fantasy, Theft, Theater, Materialism
- Locales: New York, NY, Pittsburgh, PA
The Story
The story begins in industrial Pittsburgh at the height of American industrial expansion and at a time when wealth, power, and material values are supreme and dominate the thought and goals of the nation. Paul is a misfit in every way, and the reader is given a detailed description of his conflicts with school, home, and society. Paul is different from his peers. He dresses with a kind of dandified elegance, sporting fancy neckwear and a flower in his lapel. He is bored with school and hates his shabby room at home and his middle-class neighbors and the street where...
[The entire page is 1364 words long]
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