1. The document provides discussion questions about the short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather. It analyzes various elements of the story like Paul's behavior, his fascination with the theater, his escape from his life, and his eventual suicide. 2. Many questions focus on symbolism within the story, like the significance of the red carnation and how descriptions of flowers represent Paul. Paul is depicted as longing to escape his reality and blend into larger artistic worlds. 3. In the end, Paul realizes he cannot truly escape his life and commits suicide, appearing to finally become a part of the "immense design of things" through death. The document aims to provoke critical thought about themes

1. Toward a Critical Reading of "Paul's Case"
1. From a first reading of the story (any story, in fact), basic plot, main characters, and certain events can be
remembered. However, there are a few specifics that most readers of "Paul’s Case" remember. For instance,
the red carnation, Cordelia Street, Charley Edwards, and Carnegie Hall are mentioned enough times to stay
with the reader. What is the importance of each? Then, why is the carnation red? Why is Charley Edwards
the only person in the story with a first and last name?
2. As is evident from the story, Paul escapes his real world of Cordelia Street and the school by going to the
theatre. An indication of his theatrical interests comes early when Paul is to "appear before the faculty" and
he uses his eyes "in a conscious theatrical sort of way" (1). Look in the first paragraph and locate words
that suggest various aspects of the theatre. Go through the episode at school and find other words and/or
phrases that show Paul's theatrical aversions.
3. Reread the first ten paragraphs and concentrate on the number of times reference is made to Paul's smile,
Paul's "twitching," the little use of dialogue, the incident in English class, and Paul's peculiarities, referred
to through his actions and by his teachers.
4. What facts do we know about Paul? His physical features? His height, his clothes, his face? Which are
concentrated on primarily? Why?
5. When Paul leaves school and goes to his job he gets there early and goes to the picture gallery. What does
Paul's whistling of the "Soldiers' Chorus" tell us about him? In the picture gallery he views, in particular,
"Raffelli's gay studies of Paris streets." What can this mean? Why is the sleeping guard mentioned? What
does the phrase "Paul possessed himself of the place indicate? Looking at the "blue Rico" Paul "lost
himself," as he does later at the symphony. When he leaves the gallery he makes a face at Augustus and "an
evil gesture at the Venus of Milo." What kind of face do you think he made? What kind of "evil gesture"?
(11)
6. What significance is there to the scene in the dressing room? Why does Paul tease the boys? What do you
think he teased them about? Why do the boys "put him down on the floor and [sit] on him"? (12)
7. Why does Paul feel his English teacher is out of place at Carnegie Hall? Consider the comment: ". . .she
had about as much right to sit there as he had"? Is it important that the performer at this particular concert is
a woman--"a veritable queen of Romance"? Why does Paul wait for her? In the phrase ". . .whether she
were not an old sweetheart of his," does his refer to Paul or to the conductor? How does this episode
heighten Paul’s detachment from his real world? (13-16)
8. Throughout the episodes at school, at the gallery, at the theatre, and outside the theatre Paul watches and
looks at people and things. What does this reveal about him?
9. As Paul approaches his home, how does the diction reveal his feelings? What words depict Paul’s attitude
towards Cordelia Street? Why does he enter his house through the basement window? Windows are
mentioned frequently; what is their importance? (18-21)
10. Why are the people who live on Cordelia street referred to as "burghers"? What do the people talk about?
Paul is apparently repelled by these discussions. What kind of an attitude in Paul does this suggest? The
pitcher in which lemonade is brought is "red glass. . . ornamented with forget-me-nots in blue enamel."
Why is this detail brought up? Notice that "the neighbors always joked about the suspicious colour of the
pitcher." (22-23)
11. Why is Paul disgusted by the "young man with a future"? How is the contrast between Paul and this man
brought out? What is meant by the statement that Paul "had an awful apprehension that they might spoil it
all before he got there"; what does it refer to? How does the fact that Paul enjoys the "legends," "stories,"
and "high play" further develop his desires? Is Paul only interested in fame, as revealed in the statement "he
was interested in the triumphs of these cash boys who had become famous, though he had no mind for the
cash boy stage"? What is "the cash boy stage"? (24-25)
12. Money seems unimportant to Paul, yet he needs it for car fare and for his trip to New York. What does Paul
discover about money? How is the reality of the need for money bought in throughout the story?
13. Before Paul leaves to see Charley Edwards he scrubs his hands and sprinkles on "a few drops of violet
water" to destroy the odors of washing dishes. Is Paul symbolically destroying more than odor? What does
"lethargy" mean? Notice the use of opposites at the end of the paragraph: "two deadening days and began
to live again." Does the story contain other direct opposites as dead and alive? How do you interpret this
use of opposites in conjunction with Paul’s confusion? (26-27)

2. 14. How do you picture Charley Edwards? He is the only character with a complete name. Why does the author
choose the word loitering in "Paul spent every available moment loitering about Charley Edwards’s
dressing room"? What is meant by Charley’s recognition of Paul’s "something akin to what churchmen
term ‘vocation’"? Why churchmen? (28)
15. The diction used describing Paul’s feeling at the theatre and Carnegie Hall include words such as "sleep,"
"forgetting," "fairy tales," "secret love," and "free." How do these words and others in this paragraph
enhance the conflict within Paul? Paul’s "senses were deliciously, yet delicately fired" when hearing the
orchestra begin. How do you think each sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) responded? (29-30)
16. Look up the word Romance. What definitions apply to Paul’s world? Could the word be ironical? Consider,
too, Paul’s feelings toward women: his English teacher, Venus de Milo, the soprano, his sisters, the women
in the stock company, the women on Cordelia Street. (31)
17. Interpret the following excerpt: "He had no desire to become an actor, any more than he had to become a
musician. He felt no necessity to do any of these things; what he wanted was to see, to be in the
atmosphere, float on the wave of it, to be carried out, blue league after blue league, away from everything."
(32)
18. Does the description of the school with its "bare floors," "naked walls," "prosy men," the women in "dull
gowns" with "shrill voices" and teaching with "pitiful seriousness" sound like a description Paul would give
or an opinion of an objective narrator? From whose viewpoint do we get our impression of the school?
From the description are we more liable to "side" with Paul or his teachers? Why does the author use this
point of view? (For what obvious reason is it impossible for Paul to narrate he story?) (33)
19. Paul's desire for escape from Cordelia Street and his school becomes more crucial for him as the story
progresses. Note the number of times Paul lapses into his "fairy tale" world. At what point does a major
crisis force his real escape from Pittsburgh? (34-35)
20. Why do you feel the author includes the paragraph concerning the women in the stock company? What is
meant by "Paul’s was a bad case"? (36)
21. Look closely at the paragraphs 37-39 which describe Paul's train trip. Notice Paul's uneasiness. (37-38)
What does the following statement infer: "When the whistle awoke him, he clutched at his breast pocket,
glaring about him with an uncertain smile." (38)
22. Throughout the story Paul is looking around him apparently afraid? What is he afraid of? Childhood fears
and shadows prevail. Yet we never know "the fear of what." After you have studied Paul and his
circumstances, speculate what Paul's fear is.
23. Note how many times words referring to water (tide, wash, streams, floods, etc.) are mentioned. What is the
meaning of these repetitions?
24. Paul is somewhat nervous when he sees no flowers in his hotel room. What added meaning does this give
to flowers? He is particularly conscious of the flowers under glass as he rides through New York and
notices that they are "More lovely and alluring" under glass and, in this state, are unnatural since they are
blooming in the snow. Refer to the earlier statement about Paul’s feeling that natural things were ugly;
artificiality makes beauty. Is he, too, now more beautiful since he appears artificial in his new garb and in
his new mode of living? (41)
25. Why is Paul "surprised" at "his own courage"? Before the act of stealing money Paul has apparently done
little which was aggressive, except perhaps, at school. Before his thievery he was constantly twitching,
looking, gazing at, through and around things. His stealing was apparently necessary in his eyes to reach
his goal. His goal, which was tangible and Romantic, depended on something tangible and Realistic. What
conflict is implied? Are you surprised that Paul is aggressive? That he steals? Is this a flaw in the story or is
it a natural act for Paul? (42)
26. What unnamed fear do you think Paul feels in the phrases: "Even when he was a little boy it was always
there--behind him, or before, or on either side. There had always been the shadowed corner, the dark place
into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him--and Paul had
done things that were not pretty to watch, he knew"? Is the expression "he knew" a shift in point of view?
We learn now that Paul had done things which he felt were visually objectionable. Speculate what these
things might have been. (42)
27. The paragraph retracing Paul's stealing is quite explicit. Why is this necessary? What does this episode
reveal about Paul? (44-45)

3. 28. When Paul has rested, has dressed, and is ready to leave his room "Everything was quite perfect; he was
exactly the kind of boy he had always wanted to be." Recall the other boys or men Paul has known. Who
would most likely be the one after whom Paul would pattern himself? Why? (46)
29. As Paul travels up Fifth Avenue he observes the activity around him, then focuses on "wholeflower gardens
blooming under glass cases." What is revealed when we are told that Paul saw these flowers as "vastly
more lovely and alluring" than those grown naturally? (47)
30. Of course Paul goes to the Metropolitan and hears the orchestra, but his theatrical world is not emphasized
as much while he is in New York as compared with the emphasis on the theatre in Pittsburgh. Why? What
is the importance of the emphasis on "the omnipotence of wealth"? (48)
31. Compare the idea expressed in the following quote with that in question 19. "The boy set his teeth and drew
his shoulders together in a spasm of realization; the plot of all dramas, the text of all romances, the nerve-stuff
of all sensations was whirling about him like the snowflakes." Are the same ideas expressed? Are any
new ideas brought out? (49)
32. While Paul is eating dinner in the Waldorf dining room, he reflects on his surroundings. How personal does
the author get toward Paul? Notice the vagueness in the paragraph through the use of such words as "this"
and "the struggle." Comment on the statement: "Cordelia Street--Ah, that belonged another time and
country." (51)
33. Paul has no desire to meet or know the New Yorkers; again, all he wants to do is "to watch the pageant."
He was not nervous or apprehensive: "He felt now that his surroundings explained him." What does this
mean? Why does it take him this long in New York to decide this? Should it not have been an immediate
admission? Is Paul one to make quick decisions and evaluations? (52)
34. How is the freshman from Yale a contrast to Paul? They begin as friends and finish "cool" to each other.
Why? How can this boy be compared or contrasted to Charley Edwards and the "young man with a future"
on Cordelia Street? (54)
35. Paul’s self respect is "restored" in New York because he doesn’t have to lie anymore. Is this ironical? What
factors beside lying led to his lack of self respect? (55)
36. Notice some unusual facts presented in the paragraph where the newspaper has reported Paul’s stealing.
Why is the sentence about the minister included? The money motif is expanded here with "a wealth of
detail"; Paul’s father has refunded the money stolen. Comment. Do you think a defeat for Paul is the fact
that Paul "has been seen in a New York hotel"? Why is this fact necessary? Does it seem likely that a friend
of Paul’s father would have been in New York at that hotel and seen Paul, then returned to Pittsburgh and
told Paul’s father "Oh, I just saw Paul in New York at the Waldorf"? Why does Paul’s father go after him?
(56)
37. There is a definite contrast in Paul after he reads the news as compared to before. He recalls his home; he
feels the same as he had at home after concerts. Then he briskly leaves the room whistling. Analyze the
paragraph. What causes the change in Paul from the beginning of the paragraph to the end? (57)
38. When Paul is sitting in the basement of his house he contemplates the reactions of his father if,
accidentally, his father would shoot him. Then, knowing his father is coming East, Paul decides to "finish
the thin splendidly." Is his suicide part of his original plan, or only decided when he knows his father will
take him back? Look a the next four paragraphs. (58)
39. Interpret: ". . .all the world had become Cordelia Street." (62)
40. Why doesn't Paul commit suicide with the revolver? Where does the revolver come from?
41. 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?
42. How have the flowers under glass become a metaphor for Paul? When Paul buries one flower in the snow,
he seems like that flower. (64) How? Is Paul really like the flowers throughout the story? Or are flowers
more a part of Paul's dream world than Paul is?
43. Interpret the last sentence as an explanation of Paul's dilemma. Dead, Paul is a part of something--"the
immense design of things." (66) Is he now successful? Why couldn't he really blend into the atmosphere he
desired earlier? Is aggression necessary?