Paul's Case

“Paul’s Case” The most difficult part of a person’s life is often their teenage years. This is a time when people experience many changes in their emotions and thoughts. This is illustrated in Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case.” Paul was drawn to stealing money and skipping town (and ultimately his suicide) because of his religion, Calvinism, the boredom of his lower middle-class town and life, and the inability of his …showed first 75 words of 981 total…

…showed last 75 words of 981 total…life he realizes that he does in fact have the free will to choose his own path, and that he was not destined to die on a train track, but rather that he had left many things undone. This story serves as both a very good parable about letting children choose their own path in life, and finding their own happiness, and as a sympathetic and inspiring message to those who feel like Paul does.