Imagery used in “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather Essay Sample
The imagination used in a composing has a profound consequence on position and reading. Merely as one may see a icky apple otherwise if it were described in flowery footings. the usage of imagination can turn one’s position in a different way. In Cather’s “Paul’s Case. ” Paul’s pick of self-destruction is therefore justified through the apposition of his two lives. that of the phase and of his place.
The first comparing that one comes across when reading the narrative is of the ruddy clove pink against Paul’s greatcoat. Throughout the narrative. Paul is symbolized by flowers. whether they are in a store window. his hotel room. or against his greatcoat. The vivacious clove pink provides a expression at Paul’s spirit compared to the life he is forced to populate by his male parent and instructors. Paul is bizarre and bright. merely as the clove pink. while he is forced to populate a drab life. nothingness of any exhilaration and beauty. For farther penetration into Paul’s spirit. one can look at his esteem for the art in Carnegie Hall. While waiting to get down work. Paul visits the image gallery and rapidly becomes lost in the beauty of the pictures. His esteem of the art continues with Cather’s account “that symphonies. as such. intend anything in peculiar to Paul. but the first suspiration of the instruments seemed to liberate some screaming and powerful spirit within him… . He felt a sudden gusto of life. … . ” Cather’s give voicing seems to connote that Paul. in his natural province outside Carnegie Hall. was non truly alive at all. at least in spirit.
Paul’s life outside Carnegie Hall could be described as drilling at best. The description of Paul’s room with it’s atrocious xanthous wallpaper. creaky agency with it’s oily plush collarbox. and the pictures of George Washington. John Calvin. and the framed motto all were described in a lethargic and sullied mode. It is in the following paragraph. nevertheless. that one can truly see the true life lived by Paul. Cather explains that even on the most respectable streets. Paul saw nil but asepsis and obtuseness. The manner the houses all seemed the same. even in their dwellers. seemed to kill Paul’s spirit. Cather’s description of Paul’s house seems to foster slay whatever spirit may be left within Paul. In this sense. as was said before. Paul is dead.
After Paul is forced to discontinue Carnegie Hall. he no longer had a ground to populate. All the beauty and exhilaration that he one time found refuge in are gone. As his last effort. he decided to populate the life that he ever thought that he should hold. one of glamour and importance. With this. Paul takes the money from the stock company and flees to New York. New York was heaven to Paul. functioning all the he had of all time wanted to carry through. He lived in the fancy hotels. ate the fancy nutrient. and of class. attended all the concerts. As Paul’s clip was stoping in New York. he finds that no life at all was better than the life that he was being forced to populate.
Paul’s self-destruction can be rationalized through the life that he had and the life that he wanted to hold. Paul was ne’er genuinely alive piece at place. he was merely at that place. The usage of the imagination that described these two lives therefore justifies his pick. that of life and decease.
