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Unsympathetic Character In Paul's Character

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“His teachers felt this afternoon that his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower, and they fell upon him without mercy . . .” (Cather 92). Paul is a character in the short story “Paul’s Case,” which was written by Willa Cather, who was not living a life that he wanted to. Cather did give me the impression that we should view Paul in an unsympathetic way in the beginning of the story, but by the end of it, my whole view on him changed. Throughout the story, Paul is someone who the readers need to take time to think about to fully understand him. He is a character who people should feel sympathetic for, and even though the author first portrayed Paul as an unsympathetic character in the beginning, towards the end of the story she portrayed him as a sympathetic character through the use of narration, dialogue, and description. To start, the short story first took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then it took place in New York. There is a narrator that presents Paul to the readers, and Paul is the main character. The story first starts in a court room where it …show more content…

In conclusion, “Paul’s Case” is a short story that a person needs to take time to read in order to understand it. Willa Cather first had readers view Paul as an unsympathetic character, but towards the end of it, she used narration, dialogue, and description so the readers would view him in a sympathetic way. I personally did view Paul as a weird character because he seemed to have a weird smile on his face that the author emphasized on in the beginning, and was said to be a lair. But, as I continued to read, I got to see who Paul really was, and the struggles he was going through. I compared this story to “Sonny’s Blues” by how Sonny wanted to be a musician, but his brother did not see anything good to come out of that, but Sonny wanted to follow what he loved. Paul also had a different mindset than everyone else like Sonny did, and people did not understand

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