Analysis on Paul's Case by Willa Cather
...ironic, because he really did nothing bad, but was different. Matters went wrong in school and therefore the upshot of the matter was that the Principal went to Paul's father, and Paul was taken out of school and put to work. Paul later does not feel good about the decision his Dad made. He thinks that it is worse than death to go and work, and would like it better to attend school. So his Dad was not going to change his mind and Paul just decides to run away to New York, steeling his Dad’s money. Paul then spends a week in New York in fancy Hotel eating good meals. Later on then Paul notices in Pittsburgh papers that a Dad was in search of his son and announced that the boy's father had refunded the full amount of the theft and that they had no intention of prosecuting. Paul had felt very bad and knew that his Dad was heading to New York in search of him. So when his Dad was in New York he thinks of shooting himself, but instead decides to throw himself into a train and ends up still committing suicide, but in a worse tragedy. The story’s symbolism was that Paul said that nature to him was ugly, and therefore art is the real beauty. What he called living was artificial. Also in the story there is a literary allusion of the Cordelia St...