Paul's Case

New York City was historically known as a destination for those seeking adventure. Described as a center of fine living and society, it was considered at the time of the publication of "Paul's Case" as “the symbol of ultimate glamour and cosmopolitan sophistication.”[3] Indeed, in the story, the descriptions of New York City as lavish and extraordinary contrast the descriptions of Paul's home, Pittsburgh, which he despises.[4]

Paul, a high school student from Pittsburgh, is frustrated with his dull middle-class life. This frustration mixed with a desire for a luxurious lifestyle makes Paul anxious to create a perfect lifestyle for himself. This causes him to purposely separate himself from everyone else leading to feelings of isolation.[5] Paul's teachers and father refer to Paul as a "case", representing him at a distance and as an example of someone to be studied, handled, and managed; the term enables Cather to adopt "the voice of medical authority." [6] Paul seems to display some symptoms of a narcissistic personality disorder but that is still in high debate.[7]

The short story "Paul's Case" is about a young boy who struggles to fit in at home and in school. The story begins with the reader finding out the main character, Paul, is suspended from high school. He meets with his principal and teachers who complain about Paul's "defiant manner" in class and the "physical aversion" he exhibits toward his teachers. One of Paul's teachers also mentions that Paul's mother died back when he was a child in Colorado; which is later shown to be of importance. Paul works as an usher for Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, which is one of the only parts of his life he enjoys. He stays for the concert and enjoys the social scene while losing himself in the music. After the concert, Paul follows the soloist and imagines life inside her hotel room. Unfortunately, the reader soon learns that Paul and his father have a poor relationship. Upon returning home very late one night, Paul enters through the basement window to avoid a confrontation with his father. While in the basement, Paul gets nervous that his father will come downstairs with a shotgun and kill him. Paul stays awake for the remainder of the night, imagining what would happen if his father mistook him for a burglar and shot him, or if his dad would recognize him in time. Not only does Paul wonder if his father will recognize him in time, but he also entertains the idea of his father possibly regretting not shooting him when he had the chance to do so.

Paul despises the people on Cordelia Street as they serve to remind him of his own lackluster life. Although his father considers him a role model for Paul, Paul is unimpressed by a plodding young man who works for an iron company and is married with four children. While Paul longs to be wealthy, cultivated, and powerful, he lacks the stamina and ambition to attempt to change his condition. Instead, Paul escapes his monotonous life by visiting Charley Edwards; a young actor. Later on, Paul makes it clear to one of his teachers that his job ushering is more important than his schoolwork, causing his father to prevent him from continuing to work as an usher.

Paul takes a train to New York City after stealing money from his dad's job. Paul buys an expensive wardrobe, rents a room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and walks around the city. He also meets a young boy from San Francisco who takes him on an all-night tour of the city's lively social scene. His few days of impersonating a rich, privileged young man, bring him more contentment than he had ever known because living a prosperous life is Paul's only hope and dream. However, on the eighth day, after spending most of his money, Paul reads from a Pittsburgh newspaper that his theft has been made public. His father has reimbursed his job and is on his way to New York City to bring Paul back home to Pittsburgh. Paul then reveals that he had bought a gun on his first day in New York City, and briefly considers shooting himself to avoid returning to his old life in Pittsburgh. Eventually, he decides against it and instead commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. Paul made the ultimate decision of taking his own life because the thought of returning to his old lifestyle was too much for him to handle.[8]

Paul's Case has been called a "gay suicide".[9] Many critics have attributed his suicide to the forces of alienation and stigmatization facing a young, possibly homosexual, man in early 20th-century America.[10] In 1975, Larry Rubin wrote The Homosexual Motif which includes the reinterpretation of the story since the stigma on sex has eased. He identifies small details which support a gay reading of Paul. For example, Rubin refers to the way Paul is described as "dressing as a dandy."[11] The violet water (a perfume Paul owns), and his choice of company are construed as signs of feminine tendencies.[12] Jane Nardin also explores the possibility that Paul's character is gay, and that this is a metaphor for a general feeling of being an outsider or not fitting in with a specific group of people.[13] Author Roger Austen states that Paul might be understood as a homosexual character because of the "depiction of a sensitive young man stifled by the drab ugliness of his environment and places the protagonist in an American literary tradition of 'village sissies.'"[14]

Wayne Koestenbaum reads the story as a possible portrait of Willa Cather's "own desire for aesthetic fulfillment and sexual nonconformity."[15] Another critic, Tom Quirk, reads it as an exploration of Cather's belief in the "irreconcilable opposition" between art and life.[16]

In response to Michael Salda's "What Really Happens in Cather's 'Paul's Case'?" where Salda says Paul did not kill himself, in "Fantasy and Reality in Willa Cather's 'Paul's Case'" Martha Czernicki suggests that Paul's trip to New York is a fantasy or dream, but his suicide is not.[17]

James Obertino of the University of Central Missouri suggests that Paul may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.[18] Saari suggests Paul is "a prototypical case" of narcissistic personality disorder, as he meets nine out of nine criteria from the DSM-IV,[19] Saari also suggests that because of this disorder, Paul needs to associate with people of a higher class, and that Paul "shows traits of vanity". Hayley Wilhelm of the University of New Haven, suggests the possibility that Paul has autism due to certain signs and symptoms he displays throughout the story.[20]

• Paul's Case was adapted for television in 1980 as an episode of PBS's The American Short Story anthology series. The 54 minute presentation was directed by Lamont Johnson and starred Eric Roberts.[21]
• Paul's Case was also released as a book-on-tape by HarperCollins in 1981.[22]
• In 1986, Paul's Case was released as an audiobook by Caedmon Audio Cassette [23]
• The story was the basis for a chamber opera in two acts with music by Gregory Spears to a libretto by Spears and Kathryn Walat. It premiered in April 2013 at the Artisphere in Washington, D.C.[24] and was then performed for the PROTOTYPE opera festival in New York City, performed at HERE, 145 6th Avenue.[25]

• 1905 in literature
• List of suicides in fiction

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Paul's Case

• Full text at the Willa Cather Archive
• "Paul's Case" in: Literature Annotations
• Nardin, Jane (2008). "Homosexual Identities in Willa Cather's 'Paul's Case'". Literature & History. 17 (2): 31–46. doi:10.7227/LH.17.2.3. S2CID 186626698.