Willa Cather\'s \"Paul\'s Case\" by the Turn

Willa Cather's "Paul's Case"

By the turn of the twentieth century, America had established itself as an important world power. Not only had the U.S. grown into the world's largest agricultural producer, the establishment of the first transcontinental railway had helped fuel the industrial revolution. By 1900, major oil fields were being tapped, allowing the United States to dominate the world's petroleum markets.

The early years of the 1900s also saw the emergence of the automobile industry with the establishment of the Ford Motor Company in 1903; the proliferation of telephones and electricity; a boom in urban construction with large industries attracting migrant populations in search of employment and a better quality of life; and a boom in the steel industry, with the world measuring the strength of a nation's economic activity by the number of tons of steel produced.

In the 1880s, Andrew Carnegie had constructed the world's largest steel mill in Pittsburgh and by 1900 America had become the largest steel producer in the world. Booming industry alongwith the emergence of new technology such as the automobile and promising new inventions such as the radio and the airplane, made the early 1900s an era where big business magnates made fortunes. At the same time, the country was experiencing the dichotomy of a growing gap between the rich and the poor, which ultimately led to the Progressive movement and experimenting with reforms such as minimum wages and working standards.

Cather's "Paul's Case," a story about a young man's discontentment with his life, mirrors life in the America of the early 1900s. Men who amassed vast fortunes out of the industrial revolution led the luxurious life of a new 'aristocracy' and Paul is shown as bedazzled by their lifestyle to the extent that he is completely alienated by the drab world of the working class.

Through "Paul's Case," flowers appear as a recurring symbol. Right from the beginning, it is apparent that Paul relates to flowers as possessing the qualities that sets him apart; his wearing a red carnation in his buttonhole when appearing before his faculty is indicative of this fact, thereby further alienating his teachers who feel that the red carnation showed that the boy was not at all contrite about his misdemeanors.

Paul sees flowers as representing the finer things in life. This is clearly evident when he expresses a desire for "soft lights and fresh flowers" and revulsion for the "colorless" existence of Cordelia Street. It is obvious that flowers, to Paul, belong to a different class of people when he boasts to his schoolmates about how he regularly sends flowers to his close acquaintances at the stock company.

The strongest illustration of the fact that Paul sees flowers as a powerful symbol of the lifestyle he aspires to is his act of sending the bell boy at the Waldorf down for flowers, after he notices that flowers were the only detail missing in an otherwise perfect setting.

Flowers take on even more meaning in Paul's mind when he sees the lovely picture they make under the glass cases of the flower stands, against the stark snow.

The flowers blooming so unnaturally in the snow is perhaps representative to Paul of his own 'blossoming' in New York as compared to his life in Pittsburgh.

Flowers manifest themselves again as a symbol of the radiance of the lifestyle of the rich when Paul notices them as well as the gay toilettes of the women, the white linen and the orchestra in the dining room of the Waldorf.