...The Signs of Depression Through the Context of Cather’s “Paul’s Case” The inability to conform to society might very well be detrimental to an individual’s wellbeing. Cather’s “Paul’s Case” focuses on a teenage boy with many issues, who involves himself in felonious actions of thievery as an escape from his morbid life in Pittsburg. The unusual behavior of young Paul coupled with his distaste for his living conditions leads him to run away from Pittsburg, only to commit suicide after being caught. Through Cather’s descriptions of Paul‟s temperament, readers are left to wonder “What is Paul’s case?” Although some literary critics view Paul’s rebellious behavior as an indication of other temperaments such as repression of homosexuality, Cather stabilizes Paul’s case as one of a deeply depressed nature....
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...While suicide is frequently preceded by social isolation (Potter and Perry 358), in Doris Lessing’s “To Room 19” and Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case,” both protagonists choose to commit suicide after isolating themselves socially from their worlds. More directly, Lessing’s protagonist Susan’s mental health severely declines after discovering her husband’s infidelity. When the freedom she finds amongst her mental chaos is challenged, she sees no other option other than to end her life. Similarly, Cather’s protagonist Paul gets to live the life of affluence he has always desired away from his father, but when his grim reality sets in, he chooses to end his life tragically. Although each of their paths to suicide is different, there is an uncanny similarity between their social isolation, newfound sense of freedom, and subsequent suicides. It is through this analysis that I will compare and contrast the protagonists from “To Room 19” and “Paul’s Case” by suggesting that both Susan and Paul’s social isolation liberates them from their otherwise undesirable social circumstances. Lessing introduces Susan as a practical woman who lives in a beautiful house with four charming children and a marriage that is “grounded in intelligence” (Lessing 868). Objectively, her life appears perfect to the reader: “They had everything they wanted, everything they had planned for” (Lessing 868). However, her husband’s infidelity marks a significant change in her life, which invariably causes a steep...
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...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...
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...Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” Goodman Brown was not asleep in this short story. As I read, I believed that Goodman did indeed meet the devil in the forest. If he had indeed dreamt about the trip he was sent on and meeting the devil, I think his nervousness would have been described in more detail then it was. Concentrating more on the anxiety he was feeling would have led the reader to believe that the events were not real. I also saw this story as an allegory. I saw the allegory after reading the story two times. I think it is centered on Goodman Brown having a bumpy past and that he wants to go beyond his past and reach heaven. The characters names also show the religious allegory in the story. The names Goodman and Faith are used and the characters are then soon faced with terrifying evil. I think that Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith’s names symbolize that they are good, religious people and that Goodman is making up everyone being evil in his head. I found an essay by Alexa Carlson that described the symbolism in light vs. dark, forest vs. town, nature vs. human, and fantasy vs. reality. In her paper, Essay #1: Young Goodman Brown, she states that “…fantasy vs. reality are employed to reinforce the idea that good and evil have been set up as strict categories into which no one, not even the religious figures of the community, fit neatly.” As she later writes, if Hawthorne was apprehensive about “what he considers right and wrong in terms of human behavior, I...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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