"Paul's Case" by Willa Cather

Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” is about a young 16 year old boy, Paul, who is motherless and alienated. His lack of maternal care has led to his isolation. Paul does not feel content in his yellow wallpapered house and feels detached from the society he lives in. He dreams of the luxurious life of New York City, in hopes of changing his life around by leaving behind the isolation he lived in. The only happiness he feels is working at Carnegie Hall and dreaming of the rich and wealthy, as a means to escape his reality. His father was an overpowering and detached figure in his life, which created more distress for the boy.
Paul’s true reality centers around his disinterest for school. His isolation and alienation in his life had a lot to do with the problem of his schooling. This disinterest in school reflects Paul’s alienation because of the unusual attention he receives there that he doesn’t get at home. In class one day, he was at the blackboard and “his English teacher had stepped to his side and attempted to guide his hand” (203). Paul, at the moment of being touched, stepped backwards suddenly and put his hands behind his back. Paul, growing up without a mother figure in his life, was unaccustomed to any affection or care from his teachers that mothers tend to give. Therefore, his alienation is portrayed in his attitude toward school and relationship with teachers. He was not sure how to react to the touch a caring adult, nor did he understand the fact that someone wanted good for him. The poor boy was trapped in a very lonely world which he created in his mind. He blocked out his teachers and wanted something new; something that would set him apart from the ordinary spectrum he no longer wanted to be a part of.