The Case of Paul “The carnations in his coat were drooping with the cold, he noticed, their red glory all over. It occurred to him that all the flowers he had seen in the glass cases that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass, and it was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run. Paul took one of the blossoms carefully from his coat and scooped a little hole in the snow, where he covered it up.”

The short story “Paul’s Case,” by Willa Cather is a famous realism story about a young man named Paul who continuously defies what society sees as “normal.” Throughout the entire story, from when we first see Paul bowing to his teachers after being scolded, to moments before Paul’s life comes to an end, he is wearing a carnation on his coat. This carnation on his coat not only physically sets him apart from the rest of society, it is a representation of his individuality. This passage occurs moments before the end of Paul’s life and the end of “Paul’s Case.”
Throughout the story, Paul was always acting differently from everyone else. He wasn’t popular, he didn’t like many people, and he wasn’t really liked. He felt that no matter what he did, people were against him and were always trying to bring him down because he was “different” from everyone else. At the start of the story, we see Paul being scolded by his teachers for very minute things including his carnation on his coat, as well as his somewhat pretentious attitude as he smirked at them while they reprimanded him. While leaving the meeting, Paul turned around, and to the teachers astonishment, bowed, then calmly left. It is understandable how Paul’s strange actions and quirks may be misinterpreted as pretentious, but Paul