Truth and Idealism in “Paul’s Case”
By: Mike. B
Reality is a concept to which all people experience and coexist with, in varying degrees. For those whom reality alone stands to produce the perception of fulfillment, escape is something that is rarely needed or even thought about; but in contrast, for those who exist within a reality which in stills “a shuddering repulsion”, escape becomes a motif to which one’s imagination will inevitably form an addiction too. In the short story
“Pauls Case” by Willa Cather, the main character Paul, evidently forms one such addiction to a divergence from his own reality into that of a more mind pleasing disposition through his escape into more aesthetically pleasing environments, filled with material splendour and artistic beauty. Although such an escape is by no means something one can criticize an individual for; it is however grounds upon which ones life can become trapped upon if indulgence into it becomes the main goal of someone’s life.
In other words if someone uses illusion to cover up their own reality, disastrous consequences are none but inevitable. With illusion and escape comes dismissal of truth and thus dangerous forms of idealism begin to form in ones life. Willa Cather orchestrated the dangers of the addiction to escape quite eloquently throughout this piece.
The communication of this theme was much in the form of cause and effect, although some examples are in all honesty, very subtle, they are existent and reoccurring.
Furthermore, quite noticeably, both Paul’s form of escape and this escape subsequent effect both seem to continually progress in magnitude and duration throughout the piece.

As well, one can denote many parallels within Paul’s continual urge to escape with that of drug addiction we see in the modern day, further reinforcing evidence of Paul’s addiction to the allusion of truth. Ultimately, Willa Cather uses poor Paul to convey a main thematic concept of the consequences that follow suit when one decides to live trying to escape from reality, rather than embrace it.
From the beginning of the story, Paul is portrayed as quite a unique character.
One who to all others but himself, seemed to stay mysterious and to almost all ends defiant; Paul’s “indispensable” strategy for “overcoming friction”, which was his uncanny ability to lie without remorse or hesitation is what most obviously led to the air of mystery around him. As for defiance, evidence of this can be observed through the authors description of Paul in almost all situations in which Paul has to interact with an authority figure. Congruency of this observation with fact, can be proven with unrelenting certainty in many cases. The most prominent example of this defiance, Pauls attitude within his “trial” at the very beginning of the short story without doubt screams defiance. Anyone boy who can enter a room full of “vindictive”, authority holding adults, as his teachers most certainly were, “suave and smiling”; can be described as nothing less than defiant, in retrospect, Paul is borderline rebellious. Although this escape through defiance and abdication of the truth stand to serve Paul well within the moments they are used within, the author continually stands to illicit consequences due directly to his insubordination. With respect to the trial, the consequences derived from his deviance are exposed fully as “matters went steadily worse with Paul at school”. Pauls “continual itch to let his instructors know how heartily he despised them” and his continual escape to the

fabrication of “how thoroughly he was appreciated elsewhere” led directly to his removal from school. This removal stands to serve as the consequence of Paul’s inability to accept the reality that school was in fact where he needed to be and furthermore it shows that
Paul’s continual need for escape is becoming an addiction which nothing but drastic sensual stimulation can be sufficient for.
The addiction motif is constructed with both the description of the times when he is happy and the withdrawal he feels when “it has to end”. For instance the idea of addiction is very subtly introduced with the reference to belladonna at the very beginning of the poem and Paul’s “abnormally large” pupils. Although the author refutes the direct idea that Paul is in fact addicted to belladonna because “his eyes had a glassy glitter that that drug does not produce”, it still stands to subtly and very abstractly hint towards some sort of addiction to escape. Furthermore belladonna is in fact a hallucinogen, which stands to allow for “delicious excitement” to be had by its users during their escape from reality. As the story progresses Paul continually seems to find the ability to “loose himself” in the presence of art and music, be them separate or together, no matter what, they serve to aid as an escape to him. This is something that without doubt, many hard drugs, especially hallucinogens as belladonna stand to do; serve as escape from reality for their users. Alone though, Paul’s innocent escape through art and music does not produce sufficient evidence to justify a parallel to drug use and addiction, but when his “high” is combined with the “hangover” Paul falls victim to “after a concert was over”, where he
“was always irritable and wretched until he got to sleep”, the idea becomes solid and proficient. This instant solidification comes from the simple fact that all drugs have

hangovers such as the one described in the book. Furthermore, like many addicts in todays world, Paul finds it “impossible to give up this delicious excitement which was the only thing that could be called living at all”. In other words, Paul loves his little high. He can hardly imagine life without it, and to be exposed to the stimulus that causes his pleasure is something that he will stop at almost nothing to do. This is yet another parallel between “Paul’s Case” and textbook addiction. Addicts will lie, and steal for their next high, which is something Paul most certainly did. He lied to his father about studying geometry in order to go see his actor friend Charlie and then, in the climax of the book, the boy stole thousands of dollars, simply to allow for him to escape “the natural [which] always wore a guise of ugliness”. Consequently, Paul pays for his addiction in many ways, the most evident of which are his simple unhappiness in normal every day life and finally he pays the ultimate price for his addiction through his inevitable path to suicide.
Finally, to complete her thematic presentation of cause and affect with regards to the dissociation from reality and truth, Willa Cather uses Pauls last hours as the final effect to which Pauls addiction to escape within materialism was an integral part. At first she describes the physical symptoms Paul feels, such as nausea, headaches and overall nervousness to introduce quite literally the beginning of the end. She then uses Paul’s initial thoughts of suicide to convey the seriousness of Paul’s instability. Paul’s grief of mind then begins to continually grow to the extent where his “mind was unable to cope with the vital matters at hand”. Such insanity on its own can be viewed as an unimaginable consequence, but Cather presses on further to produce the ultimate consequence for Pauls deviance. This is not only inclusive to death as many may think,

but also to the revelation Paul stands witness to as his body is being thrown to the air just before he dies. This revelation is simply the lack of fulfillment of his life, “what he has left undone”. To many this is something much worse than death. To lack fulfilment in life, is something that instils a fear like no other into many people. Cather uses this knowledge the human mind then, to quite ultimately show us just how grave the consequences are when truth is something that one continually denies.
In conclusion, Willa Cather used a great deal of eloquent and intricate examples to produce a simple, reoccurring theme. Her conveyance of the theme of the consequences due to someone, who divulges from the truth and idealism that make reality what it is, and opt for none other than an addiction to illusion, is something that I personally think is very true. I think it’s true because although imagination is something that any successful and well rounded human being must have, and illusion is an escape any sane person must indulge in periodically, individuals cannot stay stuck within these illusions; they cannot try to make an illusion reality. People must accept reality and embrace it to exist within it, unlike Paul, those who choose to exist within reality and stand to see beauty in “the natural” and everyday rather than “the artificial” will stand to receive real enjoyment from life rather than momentary enjoyment because let’s face it, reality is like gravity, you cant fight it forever. Sure you can fly for a few hours in a plane and it is quite enjoyable and beautiful, but once the fuel runs out you are destined to fall to the earth’s surface. The trick is simply to learn to land before you run out of fuel and crash, which is something Paul never learned.