In "Paul's Case", where does the point of view shift occur? Whose perspective is shown before and after this change, and what purpose does this shift serve?
Omniscient is one type of third-person point of view or perspective. A third-person narrator is one who is located outside the work’s action. The word omniscient means “all-knowing.” In literary analysis, the term means that the narrator has equal access to all the characters’ inner workings, has knowledge of past events or several contemporary events simultaneously, and can be present in any setting. When one analyzes fiction, one distinguishes between the author and the narrator. In this story, author Willa Cather provides no clues to the narrator’s identity, omitting any reference to their age, gender, race, or other elements.
An omniscient narrator is useful in conveying various characters’ perspectives in a conflictual situation. In “Paul’s Case,” the narrator tells the reader what Paul and numerous adults are thinking at different times; these characters include his teachers, the school principal, and his father. In addition, we hear from some neighbors—“the...
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burghers of Cordelia Street”—and “members of the stock company” who perform at the theater where Paul works.
A sharp break comes right after the paragraph in which the actors’ views are given. Without warning, Paul is moved from Pittsburgh to the train he is taking to New York.
They agreed with the faculty and with his father, that Paul's was a bad case.
The east-bound train was ploughing through a January snow-storm; the dull dawn was beginning to show grey when the engine whistled a mile out of Newark.
As we realize that Paul is leaving home on this train, the shift of narrative focus to Paul conveys his convictions in taking such a decisive step. More importantly, this shift emphasizes Paul’s alienation, which is now physical as well as intellectual and emotional. Away from his usual environment, where he usually felt uncomfortable, Paul is now both truly himself and truly alone.
Where does the narrator's point of view change in "Paul's Case"?
Certainly, in Part I of the story, the point of view is third person omniscient. The narrator is not a participant in the events (and does not use the first person pronoun "I"), but he or she can and does report on how all characters are thinking and feeling: Paul, his teachers, the principal, the people in the audience at Carnegie Hall. In Part II, we learn quickly, for example, that Paul "felt grimy and uncomfortable" from his train ride. His perceptions, thoughts, and feelings seem to dominate this section of the text. We soon realize that the narrator of this second part is third person limited omniscient, as we only get Paul's thoughts and feelings, as opposed to everyone's around him. This makes good sense, given the content—Paul does not care how anyone else thinks or feels; he only wants to focus on himself and on living his best, fullest life. After he steals the money to fund a short-lived though lavish lifestyle in the city, he felt that "Everything was quite perfect; he was exactly the kind of boy he had always wanted to be." Without other people,
He was not in the least abashed or lonely. He had no especial desire to meet or to know any[one]; all he demanded was the right to look on and conjecture, to watch the pageant. The mere stage properties were all he contended for. Nor was he lonely later in the evening, in his loge at the Metropolitan. He was now entirely rid of his nervous misgivings, of his forced aggressiveness, of the imperative desire to show himself different from his surroundings. He felt now that his surroundings explained him.
Paul is most comfortable with himself now and feels no need to explain or dissemble or even speak to others. Therefore, the narrator provides no other characters thoughts or feelings because they are of no importance to Paul at this point.