Nov 15, 2009

Paul's Case | Introduction

Willa Cather's story "Paul's Case" was first published in 1905. It was the last of seven stories in her first collection, The Troll Garden, which launched Cather's literary career. When the story was printed in McClure's in May of the same year, it brought Cather to national attention. In 1920 the story was reprinted by Alfred Knopf in Youth and the Bright Medusa.

Like many of the stories in The Troll Garden, "Paul's Case" explores the dangers of art and the struggles of artists and artistically inclined youth in a commercial world. Cather once remarked that the events in the story were modeled on an actual incident that occurred while she was teaching English in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cather's portrayal of a young man who lives for beauty and believes that money can transform his identity influenced F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose novel The Great Gatsby explores similar issues.

Paul's Case Summary

"Paul's Case" by Willa Cather is, as the subtitle states, "a study in temperament.'' The story chronicles a few months in the life of Paul, a student at Pittsburgh High School, who would rather be at the opera than in class.

Part I: Paul in Pittsburgh
The story begins with Paul's faculty hearing one week after he has been suspended from school. Paul is smiling, and his accusers find his appearance—especially the red carnation in his lapel— "not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension." The teachers, full of ill will, list disorder and impertinence as two of the charges against him, but they feel it "scarcely possible to put into words the real cause of the trouble."

Paul is described as "suave,'' having eyes with "a certain hysterical brilliancy,'' shuddering from a teacher's casual touch, and having a "contemptuous and irritating" habit of raising his eyebrows. Only his drawing master hints afterward that Paul's behavior may not be what it appears, that perhaps his teachers do not understand the boy. At this point, the teachers share a feeling of dissatisfaction with the meeting and their own behavior, which they liken to that of petty bullies.

Cather introduces the importance of art into Paul's life when he arrives early to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Hall, where he is an usher. First Paul revels in his solitude in the picture gallery. He dons his uniform "excitedly" before entering the hall to become a "gracious and smiling" model usher. Before seeing Paul in the world of art and music, the reader sees him as a twitchy, uncomfortable fellow. At Carnegie Hall Paul reveals a "vivacious and animated" persona freed by his surroundings and music.

After the concert Paul follows the German soloist, a woman with an "indefinable air of achievement," to her hotel. He imagines... » Complete Paul's Case Summary