Paul's Case

Paul"s Case Paul was a self-oriented boy, concerned with money, wealth, and glamour, raised in a Calvinist household that supported these ideals. Through my research I have decided that Paul"s eventual fate was not any one person"s fault. Paul was just as much to blame as his father and teachers for Paul"s suicide.

Paul was never content with his house on Cordelia Street and was always dreaming about "movin" on up" while he worked at Carnegie Hall and watched the actors and actresses move about in their stately attire and live in the most luxurious of hotel suites. Because of this dream to get out of the area in which he lived, Paul hardly ever got along with his teachers and his father. The thought of taking full advantage of his education, the method of ensuring that he would get away from Cordelia Street forever and be able to live life the way he saw fit, never occurred to him. Instead, Paul dreamed of living life in high society. As a matter of fact, Paul dreamed his way OUT of school; he was removed from school by his father, after Paul let his dreams get away from him and out his mouth. He was put to work with all hopes of succeeding, and reaching his dream drifting farther and farther away. Paul"s only chance, it seemed was to steal the money he needed and live off of it for as long as he could.

Paul stole more than 1000, enough to live for a month in New York City, at the time of the story, and only if spent cautiously. But, no... Paul would have none of that. It would have been a waste to have more money than he had ever seen in his life, and yet live just as he had throughout his life. He wanted to live in style, the way the rich folks did. So, Paul spent the money within a week on all the best clothes, the best food, the best hotel room, the best flowers, and the best life. The money disappeared within a week and Paul was forced to leave it all behind and return to the dreariness of middle class existence.

Paul"s damaged psyche could not bear to return the living-dead life that he hoped he had left behind forever, so he removed the living part with the help of a very large, very loud locomotive.

Paul"s father had abused him emotionally, and probably physically, throughout Paul"s life. He did so much to Paul"s flagging self-image that he had to boast to others to make himself feel big, when he felt tiny inside. When he finally achieved that "bigness" that he always wanted, the glamour of "the good life," his father found him out and took that away from him, or rather, made Paul give it up. This made Paul feel even smaller and made him feel that he would be better off dead. So Paul decided to make his life "better off" and he "offed" himself. This was Paul"s fathers share of the blame.

Paul"s teachers didn"t understand Paul and didn"t