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...

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…