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Khalil Kurt
Professor Fraser
English 102 3010
March 17, 2017
Paul
The setting of the story “Paul’s Case is very clear and relevant to the story. It revolves
around Paul who is the main character in the story. Paul is a young, Calvinist person who lived in
Pittsburgh and at the beginning, he attended Pittsburgh High School. Paul’s feelings have a direct
connection to the setting of the story. He struggles with his identity. His family members and
teachers fail to give him support despite the fact that he knows where he belongs.
Paul in the story portrays different characters. Paul describes rebellious character. A
rebellious trait refers to a quality where an individual goes against people’s expectations. In the
story, Paul does not comply with what the family and society expect from him but rather does
things which are contrary to their expectations. Paul feels that he is a grown– up person, and
intelligent enough and does not need to follow what other people say. He believes in himself and
views that what he chooses to do is the right thing whether the guys like it or not. According to
him, he follows his principles when planning on the activities to undertake and those not do.
People’s views, however, do not influence his decisions at all.
In the story, his father tries as much as possible to control Paul’s life. According to Paul,
the idea of being controlled by his father does not please him at all and hence tries as much as
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possible to always go against what his father wants. He wants always to be in control of his life
and activities. His father wants Paul to undertake a regular job in the firm, but Paul wanted to
live a luxurious life. He sees his father’s wish as a hindrance to living a luxury life. After losing
his job as an usher, Paul plans on what action to take. He thus decides to go to New York and
look for another job to sustain his life. While in New York, Paul realizes that his father is
planning to come and get him. In the process, he commits suicide as a rebellion against the gray
monotony of the normal life which wants him always to do want his father and the people in the
society want. He sees the aspect of his father coming to pick up as a bad idea which he does not
tolerate.
Paul also possesses a manipulative character. Manipulative trait means the ability to
exercise influence or control on something. In the story, Paul comes across a different
