"Paul's Case." Willa Cather.

One-minute review: Paul was a misfit at school. He despised his teachers and they were aware of his contempt. He was also a misfit in his neighborhood. He hated Cordelia Street and sitting on the stoop. His only joy was his ushering at Carnegie Hall where he could be among the beautiful, well-dressed people with the money to buy and wear beautiful clothes and flowers and who could dine at magnificent hotels.

He decided to escape school and the neighborhood by stealing money from his employer’s bank deposits. He spent a glorious few days living in a hotel with all the amenities, including champagne. He almost made himself forget his past in the wonders of lavish living as if he had always lived this way. However, he knew his embezzling would be discovered, took a cab out to the countryside where the trains roared by and ended his beautiful dream-life in front of the racing iron wheels of a locomotive.

Quote: “It was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run.”

Note: Over the years, I have read hundreds of short stories. In this blog, I am going to summarize as many of them as I can. RayS.

Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989.