1. What in the text would support the idea that Paul is a sympathetic character? Is there anything in the text that suggests he is not a sympathetic character?
2. How would you describe the author's style, compared to Jewett's in "A White Heron"? Compared to the stories of Garcia Marquez?
3. In different ways, Sylvia and Paul are confronted with challenges that require each to grow. Why doesn't music and art do for Paul what the heron does for Sylvia?
Sylvia and Paul are both confronted with challenges that require them to grow. Sylvia is challenged by her decision between loyalty to her animal friends, and her new friend, the hunter. Paul is confronted with the issue of being at peace with his life and simply finding comfort in his surroundings.
ReplyDeleteSylvia is at peace with her life. She does not desire more than she has, and for that reason she is happy and very lovable. Paul, on the other hand, is constantly searching and never at peace with his life and its circumstances.
Paul is self conscious and embarrassed by his "normal" and respectable family-life. He wants more than anything to be someone special, different, and glamorous. His yearning for something different is his greatest curse. This curse makes it impossible for him to move forward. Sylvia is miles ahead of Paul. She has accepted her surroundings. She yearns for nothing she doesn't have.
I admire Sylvia and her appreciation of her world. I hope that when I catch myself yearning (like Paul) I will pull back and notice all the good that surrounds me and realize that everything I need is right in front of me.
In the story Paul is represented as a sympathetic character. In the beginning you don't think of him as such but as we find out more about him, it begins to show through. On the surface he seems like a kid who simply doesn't care about anything and is only looking our for himself. He has obviously been damaged by his family's emotional past, which could be part of the reason he doesn't feel comfortable around his teachers. When a person has been through such distress it can be hard for that person to open up to anyone else. We sympathize with those who have been through something terrible. Even when the outside is deceiving, it is what is revealed that is the true nature of a person. And Paul's true nature is good, but misguided and distrusting.
ReplyDeleteThe most unforgettable passages in “Paul’s Case” are the descriptions of Paul’s neighborhood, which are filled with hatred and anger. Paul has a passion for theatre and money, which are not very elaborate throughout the course of the story because Paul doesn’t know what money, and theatre truly consist of. On the contrary the narrator describes the world of Cordelia Street with such elaborate details, and these details are the ones that seem to upset Paul the most.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how the details that disturb Paul the most are repeated. These details include the yellow wallpaper and love of math. The details that repeat make Paul so angry and they play over and over in his depressed mind. Every time Paul’s neighborhood is mentioned it causes Paul a feeling of being trapped. Paul hates where he comes from. He despises the very place that is most real in his mind and longs for the theoretical world of the upper class.
It is particularly interesting how the angry tone of these passages makes me as a reader feel as though the narrator and author to some extent sympathize with Paul. Upon reading his story I felt that the narrator presented Paul as a hero or at least it is tempting to conclude that the narrator presents Paul as a hero. I think that when Paul commits suicide in the end it is the narrator’s way of presenting the fact that Paul’s world did could not understand him and his only way out was by committing suicide.
However, as I think about it more and more I think that the narrator is just very critical of Paul. For example, when the narrator explains Paul’s middle class neighborhood, I think that the narrator is showing Paul’s anger about his life. I think that the author just wanted to show how hardworking the residents of Cordalia Street (the upper class) really are. I think that the author was trying to prove that Paul’s anger and depression towards his life and family is a typical example of the hard times teenager’s experience, yet it was not a valid reason for Paul to commit suicide.
Paul is a very interesting character. He seems to be a very awkward character who doesn't fit in anywhere and who isn't really comfortable in his own skin. Paul's passion and love of art, theatre, and music are the only thing that paul has to make him happy. The truth is that Paul has an unrealistic idea that the art world is a fantasy land, and it is this "fantasy" that causes Paul to escape his own world and go elsewhere. The strange thing is that i think that Paul no desire to join the art world but he would rather sit back and observe other people. Paul hates his teachers, classmates, neighbors, and family members, all of whom he sees as being very conservative and narrow-minded. Besides art, Paul is also loves money. He longs to be rich and believes that he is destined to be rich. Paul is very selfish and desperate to escape his reality, Paul lies constantly, sometimes to get out of bad situations and sometimes to impress his classmates and teachers.
ReplyDeleteI could not find enough evidence to support Paul as a sympathetic person. Paul is a trouble maker. He is described by the teachers as"disorder[ly] and impertinen[t]". The teachers all recognize Paul's "historically defiant manner". We know that he has some serious issues and possibly depression; however, even if he had a mental illness, his actions and physique do not support any sympathetic characteristics.
ReplyDeletePaul's teachers are not the only ones that find Paul "insolent" or "smart". His classmates are also effected by his strange persona/ behavior. Every person he meets are "conscience of the same feeling of physical aversion" just by his appearance and actions toward others.
Paul stands, "smiling, his pale lips parted over his white teeth. (His lips were continually twitching, and had a habit of raising his eyebrows that was contemptuous and irritating to the last degree". People are turned off my this strange behavior. If anything, I would say that Paul is ill and spiteful. These characteristics certainly do not imply sympathy toward others.
He may be seen as sympathetic to others, such as in the Music Hall. He is described as "a model usher; gracious and smiling he ran up and down the aisles; nothing was too much trouble for him; he carried messages and brought programs as though it were his greatest pleasure in life, and all the people in his section thought him a charming boy, feeling that he remembered and admired them." The author uses the words" as thought it were..." to imply Paul's theatrical behavior. He is acting as a sympathetic kind young man, but he is really just putting on a show.
I'm leaning more towards Paul being a sympathetic character. Although he has done some things that people disagree with, you can see the good in him when he is involved in something he really loves, such as music. When Paul is with his classmates, teachers, and at home, he feels as though he doesn't belong and gets into trouble because of it. Paul feels the need to exaggerate and lie about himself to appear to be more interesting, where when he is involved in music, it is true.
ReplyDeleteI think all of us have experienced a time when we want to appeal to people more, so we exaggerate something about ourselves, even if it's only a bit and about something totally insignificant. Everyone wants to belong somewhere and will do anything to feel that, even if it means not telling the truth. For instance, we all came to Walnut Hill for a reason, we needed to be somewhere we could be understood better than we were back at home. Here at school, we can be ourselves and everyone is accepted no matter what. Maybe back at our old high schools or middle schools, things were different. People may not have cared about your performances or writing or artwork and you felt you needed to overcompensate for that. But here at Walnut Hill, where everyone is understood, we don't need to do that. It doesn't mean we went to the same extremes Paul went to at school, but I think most of us can relate.
I read this story, and I really wanted to believe that Paul was a sympathetic character. But I just dont think that he is. He really only understands and tries to understand himself, and doesnt really sympathize with others. For example, a sympathetic person would not have inwardly mocked the way someone was dressed when they attended an opera. He simply sees this as a way to make himself feel better. He is in fact very selfish, as is demonstrated by his stealing money and telling lies to make himself look good. I just can not see how people would find him a sympathetic or empathetic character.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that Paul's love for music and art does not satisfy him the way that the animals and nature satisfy Sylvia is because he sees the arts as unattainable. Yes, he spends as much time as he can in and around the theater, but he does not want to be an actor or a musician, he simply wants to be around it. He does not try to make music or art a bigger part of his life, instead he just admires it and talks about it to his peers. Paul is so focused on his negative feelings about his home, that he fails to see the beauty and art in it. True artists find beauty in the most unlikely places. One cannot even say that Paul was a "tortured artist", because he was not an artist at all. He was an artist admirer, a tortured artist admirer.
ReplyDeletePaul lies about art to get attention. He thinks he is seeking respect but he is really just seeking assurance that his life is not as dull as it seems. This is a huge mistake. Artists do not lie to get respect. We have to prove to everyone that we deserve it. Paul treats the adults in his life badly, which is another way to get nowhere in life. Clearly, Paul had many at home issues that he needed to sort out. It is sad that art, his biggest escape, was also the thing that drove him furthest from the truth, and the closest to insanity.
During the hearing of Paul's case by some judiciary board, there are a few hints of sympathy for Paul. First, his mother died when he was just a few days old. One could easily argue that this is a large source for his mental and physical unrest and the cause for much of his anger. The drawing master says that there is something wrong with him. That could mean that his actions are not entirely in his fault, and some circumstances and experiences have led up to being a trouble maker. When the teachers leave, they feel guilty for being angry at a boy who has gone through so (seemingly) so much.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with a few views on his phoniness. I believe quite the opposite: he acts much less mature than he really is. His thoughts are much more detailed (at least when described by the author) while his actions show immaturity.
In regard to the third prompt, I think that Paul has many mental and emotional barriers around him resulting from the death of his mother. He appears to be very unaffected by criticism. Also, he does not allow himself to fall into the music like Sylvia falls in love with the world around her.
Overall, I do not think that Paul should be considered a sympathetic character. He does too many awful things to all sorts of people including his teachers and classmates. There seems to be absolutely no reason for the pleasure he gets from tormenting other people until the reader finds out his mother had died when he was a newborn. One thing Paul loves dearly is music. While on duty as an usher, he goes to listen to a concert that is happening that night. What the reader observes is something similar to a snake being charmed. In the moments that the symphony begins to play, he becomes calm and quiet and forgets all his troubles hes had with the teachers at his school. "... the first sigh of the instruments seemed to free some hilarious and potent spirit within him".
ReplyDeleteI think in many ways Paul and Sylvia are very much alike. The most prominent of these similarities being their mutual appreciation for the things in life that bring pleasure without some negative side effect. Such as art and nature. As apposed to most other past times, an appreciation for the pure pleasure of something beautiful can only enrich ones soul. There is no sense of competition if this is done correctly, no power struggles or achievement of material things, and no negativity built up between persons or the world. However both characters finds some adversity that attempts to bring each of them away from that pure love that they feel, and it is their struggle (a struggle that all of us deal with every day in some form or another) that takes us away from our own TRUE happinesses.
ReplyDeleteSylvia and Paul tend to have similar characteristics. Both characters isolate themselves from the social norm. Sylvia tends to deviate from the path, and since she lives alienated from the world, she chooses to continue with this isolation and find companionship in the form of animals, rather than humans. Paul isolates himself as well through is way of choosing to associate himself with artists and actors, rather than be surrounded by classmates and schoolwork. This isolation and appreciation for animals/art, when stripped away and focused on shows passion and commitment. The commitment of knowing you love something so much that you are able to completley be content with alienating oneself from their former lives (or in Sylvia's case, moving forward into a social life) in order to devote themselves to the following of their interests. It also just so happens that both Sylvia and Paul's interests are passive. Paul enjoys the company of the artists, just like Sylvia enjoys the company of the animals. This relates back to the fact that they don't want to participate in anything that disables them from being isolated, because to some degree isolation is as important as devotion to interests.
ReplyDeleteI think that music doesn't do the same thing for Paul that the white heron does for Sylvy because the white heron filled up the missing space of no relateable companion or motherly figure in her life. When Sylvy saw the white heron with its mate and nest, I think she noticed a maternal sense of caring and love coming from the animal. I also think she was comforted by the fact that she witnessed the bird searching for its mate as well. Sylvy seems to be doing the same thing, but she was reassured to see someone who she admired do it with her, because all she seemed to really want was a true companion that would be there for her all of the time, no matter what. Her immediate family members didn't seem close-by and she didn't seem to mind this, so perhaps she wasn't able to connect, or bond as closely with those people, but with the animals she was always able to do so. This caused her to feel the need to reciprocate some type of loyalty to the bird because the bird gave her something she needed.
ReplyDeleteThen, when Paul heard the orchestra playing a beautiful piece it didn't seem that he was comforted or felt complete, it just seemed that, temporarily, he felt at ease with himself. To me this type of a reaction seems much more distached and less meaningful. It was a beneficial moment for Paul, but I didn't get the sense that he really felt that the music substituted for something that was missing in his life. I don't think after hearing music Paul always got the sense to give back to music. Whenever someone does something for me that really makes me feel better or more complete, I think naturally, I feel the need to reciprocate the act. For one thing, because I really did deeply benefit from their action. Music was the temporary substitute of a good friend calming him down, but didn't fill-in the missing piece of such a thing in his life.
Paul is a sympathetic character but he tries not to show it. By helping the actors, he shows how he wants someone to be there for him and he is hoping it is the actors. But it also shows when he kills himself because he can't take the fact his own father wants him dead which shows he wanted sympathy shown to him. But never received it.
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