Pauls Case

"The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold...their red glory over...It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass. It was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run" (Cather, 214).

Like the red carnation, Paul has his, "one splendid breath," his spending spree. I believe what we saw of Paul's life leading up to this point was his revolt against "normal" life. He was always an outsider, maybe because of his appearance, or maybe by his choice of actions. Paul cannot live in their world--he has a need for the high fashion of the theatre life, and his tastes are more suited for the wealthy, elitist class that can weekly afford to go to the theatre. Paul's refusal to accept his ordinary life is what ultimately leads to his suicide.

I think many of us have been guilty of being bored in school, or have wished we had money and fancy things. However, we do not let our desires rule us; we do not let our imaginations become our lives. There is a line between fantasy and reality that Paul cannot grasp. Maybe the world was not fair to Paul because they did not understand them. I think it is certainly possible that, had Paul been living in our time, he would have been diagnosed with a variety of conditions. He would have been treated differently. But in this story, real life is too much for Paul. His father, teachers, and classmates do not understand him. I think Paul needed help, but because no one understood him, he was treated like everyone else, which in Paul's case, was a mistreatment. The normal rules and punishments were the wrong thing for Paul and they pushed him further away from reality.