Paul briefly fulfills his dream through deceit, and Cather implies that this fulfillment might also involve self-deception. At home, he misleads his father to justify his visits to the theater, while at school, he concocts stories about the life he desires. In New York, despite feeling free from "the necessity of petty lying," he is living his greatest lie: pretending to be a wealthy boy from Washington waiting for his traveling parents. He convinces himself that "this time there would be no awakening," which can be interpreted as either a delusion or a hint at his eventual suicide.