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Essay on Paul's case by Willa Cather
Willa Cather's title "Paul's Case" invites us to wonder about the issue, "What precisely is Paul's Case?" Cather instantly informs us that Paul's case is unexplained. His own father is "puzzled" about his son's conduct, and the school faculty, who meet with Paul to discuss his recent suspension, speak of Paul with such "resentment" and "aggrievedness" that it is understandable that Paul's is "not a usual case". At first, it appears that Paul is, perhaps, simply filled with the arrogance that teens sometimes brings, however, as Cather continues with Paul's case history, we find out that his problem is more profoundly rooted. Paul's dilemma drives him to take his own life, and simple adolescent arrogance does not lead to such drastic measures. Critics often mention Paul's red carnation, in Willa Cather's short story "Paul's Case," as a badge of "fidelity to his dream, his talisman" or as a symbol of his alienation from the world. That scrutiny can be extended to include the story's frequent references to other flowers, which also symbolize Paul's desires and mirror his disconnection from the world.
The prolonged understanding enhances the reader's understanding of Paul's weakness, his longing for beauty, and his powerlessness to succeed in his environment. Paul uses the red carnation as a visible symbol of his alienation from the world of Cordelia Street. Yet the symbol is misunderstood by his teachers, who see the flower as a vehicle of defiance. To them, the red carnation is not "properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension", and this is reinforced later when they contend that Paul's "whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and his flippantly red carnation". (Salda, Michael)
The vivid color of the flower is in spiky dissimilarity to Paul's drab background, where the people "were as exactly alike as their homes and of a piece with the monotony in which they lived".....
