A Study in Temperament
We live in a materialistic society with people controlled by money and what they can accomplish with it. Every individual on this planet exemplifies a cog in the wheel of progress, as Charlie Chaplin asserts in his popular film Modern Times that we live to do what others want in order to survive. Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” illustrates the story of a suicidal young man who was surrounded by a grim environment not suitable to his liking. Cather illuminates the complications with society’s norms and how those guidelines might affect people similar to Paul.
Paul, the main character, expresses himself in confrontational ways to the everyday society - which places him in uncomfortable positions throughout his life. Based on his actions throughout the plot and how others judge him, there is a high chance Paul is homosexual. Even his father approached the school principal, “confessing his perplexity about [Paul]”(1). The word “perplexity” is usually associated with …show more content…
Paul was always smiling, always glancing about him, seeming to feel that people might be watching him and trying to detect something. This conscious expression, since it was as far as possible from boyish mirthfulness, was usually attributed to insolence or ‘smartness’”(4). Throughout my life, I have always suppressed my emotions when around others to keep them from worrying about my thoughts; that dissolution of emotion causes me to have many periods of depression and random explosions of feeling. My experience with keeping my emotions locked safe relates to Paul’s situation in that we both have masks that hide the growing melancholy where rash decisions
We live in a materialistic society with people controlled by money and what they can accomplish with it. Every individual on this planet exemplifies a cog in the wheel of progress, as Charlie Chaplin asserts in his popular film Modern Times that we live to do what others want in order to survive. Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” illustrates the story of a suicidal young man who was surrounded by a grim environment not suitable to his liking. Cather illuminates the complications with society’s norms and how those guidelines might affect people similar to Paul.
Paul, the main character, expresses himself in confrontational ways to the everyday society - which places him in uncomfortable positions throughout his life. Based on his actions throughout the plot and how others judge him, there is a high chance Paul is homosexual. Even his father approached the school principal, “confessing his perplexity about [Paul]”(1). The word “perplexity” is usually associated with …show more content…
Paul was always smiling, always glancing about him, seeming to feel that people might be watching him and trying to detect something. This conscious expression, since it was as far as possible from boyish mirthfulness, was usually attributed to insolence or ‘smartness’”(4). Throughout my life, I have always suppressed my emotions when around others to keep them from worrying about my thoughts; that dissolution of emotion causes me to have many periods of depression and random explosions of feeling. My experience with keeping my emotions locked safe relates to Paul’s situation in that we both have masks that hide the growing melancholy where rash decisions