Space in Pauls Case is problematic. The Settings and locations do not exist in themselves but as projections of Pauls values. They are ranked in a hierarchy from the most rarified aesthetic realm to the mundane. Before the end of the piece Paul identifies his Araby, the Mediterranean. However as the action never occurs there it exists only as his idea of it as a vision or a dream. Even though it is easy for us to see with the Mediterranean this replacement of the location with his vision is present in every location in the story. The Hotel exists not as a specific hotel but as an archetypical concept of Hotel. It is a private symbol that we only half glimpse in the work. The first hotel we encounter is the one entered by the singer from Carnegie Hall. The scene leaves Paul standing outside of the world he wishes he inhabits in the rain. The rain here is the harshness of reality when compared with the dream.
Whether he realizes it or not Paul is a decadent. He values the aesthetic above the material. He values the beautiful artifice above the merely natural. Perhaps it was because, in Pauls world, the natural nearly always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty. (Cather, 218) Unfortunatly for Paul, he lives on Cordelia Street a location steeped in the seemingly natural and normal social environment of Calvinist work ethic, personal responsibility and practicality. Paul has some outlet for his decadence in the forms of his job at Carnegie hall and the theatre at which he volunteers. They form the oasis in the desert of the too real, where Paul finds what happiness there is in his life. However his role at Carnegie is revealing, he isnt a guest and he isnt a performer; he is a server. The tickets had probably been sent to her out of kindness, he reflected as he put down a seat for her, and she had about as much right to sit there as he had. (Cather, 215) He didnt fit in where he most wanted to be any more than he fit in on Cordelia Street.
He had not a hundred dollars left; and he knew now, more than ever, that money was everything, the wall that stood between all he loathed and all he wanted. (Cather, 225) Money is one vehicle of social mobility. It is however not open to all. Gathering money requires that one be in a position to receive it. Generally you have to already be in a position of power or high social position to receive money to cement or hold you in that high social position. Paul does use money as his movement from one position to another. However due to his method for acquiring the money and the limited amount he acquired his social mobility is temporary and partial. It is interesting that after the lacunae Paul is mobile on the train because of his use of money for social mobility.
Calvinism is a branch of Protestant Christianity founded by John Calvin. Calvinism is only directly referenced in the portrait of its founder that adorns Pauls bedroom wall. However the touch of Calvinism can be seen through out the Cordelia Street portions of the tale. Calvinism is considered to be the source of what is called the Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic is said to arise out of Calvinisms doctrine of the elect. People are said to have been chosen by God for Salvation before hand due to predetermination. As whether one is saved or not is predetermined free will and our own actions are not important. Also as God is said to rain blessing on those who are chosen, those who are chosen will have material and social success. Therefore people will work as hard as they can to gather material and social success to prove to their fellows that they have already been chosen. This can be seen in the story as the families display their leisure and success on the porches of their houses. For more information on Calvinism and the rise of the Protestant work ethic see the work of Durkheim. The Work Ethic is a myth of social non-mobility. Cordelia Street is symbolic of the conventional life of the working middle class. It is also where Paul is positioned. Without movement position is destiny. It is interesting that in the moment of his doom, of the failure of his dream, Paul sees the whole world remade as Cordelia Street. The whole world already is Cordelia Street however it is also already the theater. Cordelia Street is less a place and more a gloss. A film of dreary practicality smeared over Pauls life.
Education is a key to social mobility or at least that is one of the things that are hinted at in this story. In the realm of aesthetics and cultural experience there are only two classes of participant, the rich and the educated. Pauls English teacher is the first hint given to Paul about how to achieve his goal how to relieve his yearning. By showing up at Carnegie Hall and participating in his cultural and aesthetic reality there she shows him how he could bridge the gap between the worlds. Unfortunately, he only sees her presence out of her normal context as an anomaly and an intrusion. The student from Yale is the second hint about how education allows one to take part in the upper class luxury of the Aesthetic. However by this time in the story, after his theft, it is probably already too late for Paul. The reader however can still benefit from the message.
The school to Paul is a subset of Cordelia Street and a location of Work and the Mundane. However in the context of social mobility it is also his opportunity to advance himself and build a stake in the aesthetic reality he craves. Further it is the site of his undoing because he does not understand the purpose of education and the nature of his peer group. His actions in that location end the holding pattern of minimal aesthetic pleasure he has created for himself. Paul expends a lot of effort to impress and convince his fellow student that he does not belong to Cordelia Street. He could not bear to have the other pupils think, for a moment, that he took these people seriously; he must convey to them that he considered it all trivial, and was there only by way of a jest, anyway. (Cather, 219) This attempt to impress his school peers is both a failure and the root of his ultimate failure. It is to impress them that he lies, tells stories, and acts out in class. He endeavors to convince them he is not of the school, that he is better than the teachers. This only isolates him from the other students who are part of the school and belong on Cordelia Street. It is through his constant tale telling that his Principle and Father decide to take him out of school and send him to work. His chance at a permanent place in the Aesthetic world closes.
The locations in Pauls Case affect him almost as much as his vision transforms them. They exist as representations of his private symbols and their inner reality rarely shine through to Paul. He causes his own problems because he fetishizes the locations however how could he do otherwise, he does not know better. The locations and the people there in fail to understand Paul and he fails to understand them. It forms a vicious cycle of failure that ends in Pauls death. He causes the situations he faces because he does not know better but no one understands Paul enough to teach him better.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. Pauls Case: A Study in Temperament. Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 6th ed. Eds. R. V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 211-226.
Whether he realizes it or not Paul is a decadent. He values the aesthetic above the material. He values the beautiful artifice above the merely natural. Perhaps it was because, in Pauls world, the natural nearly always wore the guise of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty. (Cather, 218) Unfortunatly for Paul, he lives on Cordelia Street a location steeped in the seemingly natural and normal social environment of Calvinist work ethic, personal responsibility and practicality. Paul has some outlet for his decadence in the forms of his job at Carnegie hall and the theatre at which he volunteers. They form the oasis in the desert of the too real, where Paul finds what happiness there is in his life. However his role at Carnegie is revealing, he isnt a guest and he isnt a performer; he is a server. The tickets had probably been sent to her out of kindness, he reflected as he put down a seat for her, and she had about as much right to sit there as he had. (Cather, 215) He didnt fit in where he most wanted to be any more than he fit in on Cordelia Street.
He had not a hundred dollars left; and he knew now, more than ever, that money was everything, the wall that stood between all he loathed and all he wanted. (Cather, 225) Money is one vehicle of social mobility. It is however not open to all. Gathering money requires that one be in a position to receive it. Generally you have to already be in a position of power or high social position to receive money to cement or hold you in that high social position. Paul does use money as his movement from one position to another. However due to his method for acquiring the money and the limited amount he acquired his social mobility is temporary and partial. It is interesting that after the lacunae Paul is mobile on the train because of his use of money for social mobility.
Calvinism is a branch of Protestant Christianity founded by John Calvin. Calvinism is only directly referenced in the portrait of its founder that adorns Pauls bedroom wall. However the touch of Calvinism can be seen through out the Cordelia Street portions of the tale. Calvinism is considered to be the source of what is called the Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic is said to arise out of Calvinisms doctrine of the elect. People are said to have been chosen by God for Salvation before hand due to predetermination. As whether one is saved or not is predetermined free will and our own actions are not important. Also as God is said to rain blessing on those who are chosen, those who are chosen will have material and social success. Therefore people will work as hard as they can to gather material and social success to prove to their fellows that they have already been chosen. This can be seen in the story as the families display their leisure and success on the porches of their houses. For more information on Calvinism and the rise of the Protestant work ethic see the work of Durkheim. The Work Ethic is a myth of social non-mobility. Cordelia Street is symbolic of the conventional life of the working middle class. It is also where Paul is positioned. Without movement position is destiny. It is interesting that in the moment of his doom, of the failure of his dream, Paul sees the whole world remade as Cordelia Street. The whole world already is Cordelia Street however it is also already the theater. Cordelia Street is less a place and more a gloss. A film of dreary practicality smeared over Pauls life.
Education is a key to social mobility or at least that is one of the things that are hinted at in this story. In the realm of aesthetics and cultural experience there are only two classes of participant, the rich and the educated. Pauls English teacher is the first hint given to Paul about how to achieve his goal how to relieve his yearning. By showing up at Carnegie Hall and participating in his cultural and aesthetic reality there she shows him how he could bridge the gap between the worlds. Unfortunately, he only sees her presence out of her normal context as an anomaly and an intrusion. The student from Yale is the second hint about how education allows one to take part in the upper class luxury of the Aesthetic. However by this time in the story, after his theft, it is probably already too late for Paul. The reader however can still benefit from the message.
The school to Paul is a subset of Cordelia Street and a location of Work and the Mundane. However in the context of social mobility it is also his opportunity to advance himself and build a stake in the aesthetic reality he craves. Further it is the site of his undoing because he does not understand the purpose of education and the nature of his peer group. His actions in that location end the holding pattern of minimal aesthetic pleasure he has created for himself. Paul expends a lot of effort to impress and convince his fellow student that he does not belong to Cordelia Street. He could not bear to have the other pupils think, for a moment, that he took these people seriously; he must convey to them that he considered it all trivial, and was there only by way of a jest, anyway. (Cather, 219) This attempt to impress his school peers is both a failure and the root of his ultimate failure. It is to impress them that he lies, tells stories, and acts out in class. He endeavors to convince them he is not of the school, that he is better than the teachers. This only isolates him from the other students who are part of the school and belong on Cordelia Street. It is through his constant tale telling that his Principle and Father decide to take him out of school and send him to work. His chance at a permanent place in the Aesthetic world closes.
The locations in Pauls Case affect him almost as much as his vision transforms them. They exist as representations of his private symbols and their inner reality rarely shine through to Paul. He causes his own problems because he fetishizes the locations however how could he do otherwise, he does not know better. The locations and the people there in fail to understand Paul and he fails to understand them. It forms a vicious cycle of failure that ends in Pauls death. He causes the situations he faces because he does not know better but no one understands Paul enough to teach him better.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. Pauls Case: A Study in Temperament. Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 6th ed. Eds. R. V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 211-226.
I remeber the day when I realised the secret to writing good essay's isn't the actual conclusion but how well you can B.S.
Served me well in English Literature.