Discussion Questions for "Paul's Case"
What techniques does Cather use to establish the reader's sympathy for Paul? What limits that sympathy?
Why does Paul go away from New York to commit suicide? He seems to backtrack the steps he took when he arrived. Is this part of Paul’s plan? Or does he have a plan at all?
Through Cather, we learn that Paul has a great admiration for the fine arts and music. We see this through his point of view, which allows us to sympathize with him. He uses his fascination with art and music as his escape from reality and his misery. It is more of an addiction that anything; he tries to quickly take in its beauty in order to escape his unhappiness and loneliness. He dreads going back home and feels depressed. We also learn that he lost his mother at a very young age; at the beginning of the story, through his teachers’ eyes, we see a boy who misbehaves and has is troubled; His teacher’s feel like bullies once they learn that fact of his life. All of these factors play a role when the reader tries to sympathize with Paul, but this is soon overcome with Paul’s tendencies to lie and also his mindset in thinking that money will help him solve his problems and his angry thoughts toward the people who live on Cordelia Street. When Paul back-tracks the steps he took to when he arrived in New York, to me, it doesn’t seem like he has a plan at all. He seems confused in what his life is coming to. He relates to himself with the red carnation and thinks back to the flowers he saw in New York; how they were protected from the harsh winter, and now that he isn’t in NY, he is back to the dreaded life he doesn’t want to be in. his faith is weakened just like the carnation in winter, and believes that he has no other fate but to end his life.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Carther's method for conducting sympathy for the main character is to artistically describe the thoughts in his head and how he feels throughout his journey. By doing this, it allows the reader to understand Paul more and maybe feel some form of connection towards him. Following with how he thinks of different things and people, and how they make him feel. Plus, Paul seems to establish a little bit of a rebellious side to his character, due to habit of getting in trouble at school in the beginning. Carther also uses a method of describe the specific features on Paul's body and how they feel to him, in order to depict the specific emotion that is meant to be conveyed. One example could be on page 104 which states, "As the house filled, her grew more and more vivacious and animated, and the color came to his cheeks and lips." Instead of bluntly saying he was happy or excited, Carther uses this immense vocabulary to describe the emotions and feelings with Paul, which continues to help the reader understand the character and possibly connect with him.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, I think Paul did have a plan but when he put it into action, it did not have the outcome he expected so me committed suicide. He was clearly fascinated by music and art, as well as a desire to living independently. Mostly from how the experience has made him feel, it upset him to the point that he realized there is no other alternative but to go back to the life he left. This could be what drove him to commit suicide, because he could probably continue either living out the life he left or the new one he mistook for greatness. Overall, this form of backtrack could be a sense of how confused he in which direction he should take and whether he should create a new plan. In a sense, the reason he committed suicide was because he had no plan, and without a plan, he felt like he had no purpose.
From the short story "Paul's Case" the author Cather uses the main character life, to establish the readers sympathy. Though Paul's life the reader can see that Paul is. Young boy who is in love with the arts and music from the theater that he works at. When Paul is at work he is very happy and useful to everyone there, but shortly readers find out that once Paul leaves work he is dreads his life he hates that everything is the same and dull, which is the complete opposite of what he enjoys at work. This creates sympathy because the reader is reading about a young boy that only enjoyment in life is when he goes to work. The limit of sympathy is when he reader finds out later on in the story that Paul makes up Iies to his class mates to make himself look really important to them about knowing the actors and actresses, taking trips, and taking the actresses out on date. In which this makes the reader look at Paul more of a liar, then a sad boy. When Paul when Paul first came to New York he had a plan of becoming what he wanted which was to be apart of the arts and to have wealth, shortly after arriving to New York Paul notices that he is still unhappy and that his plan actually didn't work at all how he expected to. After all of Paul figures out that his plan failed, he ended up having no reason or purpose to be in New York nor did he feel he had a reason to live because before his reason to live was for the moment he had just found out didn't bring him happiness that he wanted.Once Paul began to end his life he realized that he actually did have reason to live because he had not seen everything in life that he could have.
ReplyDeleteCather's decision to give the narrative as a type of expose is what really helped me sympathize with Paul. Through this writing style the reader gets not only how Paul interacts with the outside world but also how he deals with himself. I find myself feeling sorry for Paul because he is always longing for something to fill the void in his life. His appreciation for art and music doesn't seem authentic but rather in vain because he assumes that the artists have something he doesn't have. I think Cather had Paul commit suicide in NY because it is the epicenter of everything Paul dreamed about: the glamorous life and the hustle and bustle of all the performers in the city. However upon arrival, Paul kills himself because he is still not happy with everything he thought would satisfy him. So in fact it seems Paul never knows what he really wants or how it will bring him peace. Interestingly enough while killing himself he seems unsure about his choices, realizing that he will never see so many places he dreamed about. So even during his demise Paul is not stable in his mind or body.
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