Paul's Case

Point of View

3rd person limited (Paul's P.O.V.)

External Conflict

Paul and his teachers clash at school because of Paul's careless attitude and they feel that he personally dislikes them, Paul and his father clash when his father takes him out of school and puts him to work

Internal Conflict

Paul fights with himself during the story about his love and obsession for artificial beauty and it ends with him killing himself because he cannot find everlasting beauty without working

Exposition

Paul grew up in Pittsburgh with father and sisters. His mother died when Paul was young, and Paul hates the town he grew up in, along with the people who live there.

Rising Action

Paul's disciplinary meeting with his teachers; his ushering job at Carnegie Hall; Paul being removed from school and sent to work; Paul transferring the banknotes and leaving for New York; Paul discovering that his dad was looking for him in New York

Author

Willa Cather

Setting

beginning in a small town near Pittsburgh, close to Carnegie Hall; later in New York City and Waldorf Hotel

Paul's Father

flat & static

The Clerk

flat & static

Teacher(s)

flat & static; his teachers feel that Paul goes out of his way to make them feel unappreciated and hated

Denouement/Resolution

not a clear resolution; Paul's resolution to his dilemma of not being rich/not being able to be rich without working is his death

Paul

protagonist; & antagonist round & dynamic; really wants to be rich and live with extravagance, however that was not what he was born into

Motif

snow and winter-like surroundings, red carnations and flowers

Foil

the clerk, who is a young man in Paul's neighborhood, whom Paul strongly dislikes, but most people admire

Climax

the end of the story which led up to Paul's suicide

Foreshadowing

the red carnation on Paul's shirt in an effort to cover up the reality of what he is wearing, but in the end the flower on his shirt dies, foreshadowing his death

In Media Res

the story begins with Paul's meeting with his teachers, without any explanation of what he's done or why (the "middle" of the story)