Paul’s Case by Willa Cather

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The ending of the story takes an unexpected turn. After Paul parties with a student from Yale and wakes up hung-over in the hotel, he reads the newspaper and finds out that the stock company found out he stole the money but his dad paid them and they weren’t going to press charges. Then he knew his luxury life had come to an end because his dad was coming to New York and that meant he was going back home. The author states, “It was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever. The gray monotony stretched before him in hopeless, unrelieved years; Sabbath-school, Young People's Meeting, the yellow-papered room, the damp dish-towels; it all rushed back upon him with a sickening vividness. He had the old feeling that the orchestra had suddenly stopped, the sinking sensation that the play was over.” He believed that after living that short time of luxury he was content and that he had made the best of it. The author then states, “Yet somehow, he was not afraid of anything, was absolutely calm; perhaps because he had looked into the dark corner at last and knew. It was bad enough, what he saw there, but somehow not so bad as his long fear of it had been. He saw everything clearly now.” This hints that Paul is about to commit suicide because he is not afraid of anything. He could’ve taken his life with a revolver but he thought that wasn’t the way. He then takes a cab to Pennsylvania because he plans on jumping in front of the train. When he jumps he thinks about the places he was going to miss out on and the author then states, “Then, because the picture-making mechanism was crushed, the disturbing visions flashed into black, and Paul dropped back into the immense design of things.” This sentence is important because it means that Paul’s dream was over and he had returned to reality where he would never be of the higher social class.