"Paul's Case"
A Symbolic Perception
Imagine being entrapped in a life that you did not feel you belonged in. That is
the story of Paul in "Paul's Case," written by Willa Cather. He lived in a suburban
home where everyone seemed the same and there was a feeling of despair. Paul, who
was a young man, felt that his father, teachers and classmates misunderstood him and
therefore were unworthy of his company. In the story there are many symbolic
elements. Flowers, for instance, symbolize Paul's personality and life. The parallel
between the boy and the flowers is made by the author many times throughout the
short story.
In the beginning of the story Paul has a meeting with the teachers of his school
because he was misbehaving. For the meeting Paul shows up wearing "clothes [that]
were a trifle outgrown . . . [with] a red carnation in his buttonhole" (49). This shows his
total disrespect for authority because he is going to get disciplined; and the teachers
thought this "was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the
ban of suspension" (49)." The flower he wore shows that he does not care about
school or his teachers: his teachers felt "that his whole attitude was symbolized by his
shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower" (50). The principal also noted his conceit
as he left the meeting and bowed which was described to be "a repetition of the
scandalous red carnation" (51). It is almost as if the flower is his strength and reminds
him of his need to be with a different class of people.
Paul worked as an usher at Carnegie Ha ...