Paul's Case | Study Guide Willa Cather Overview Author Willa Cather Year Published 1905 Type Short Story Genre Fiction Perspective and Narrator Though the narration is in the third person, it is not omniscient but limited, remaining close to Paul and his perspective throughout. Tense "Paul's Case" is written in past tense. About the Title The full title, "Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament," refers directly to the protagonist of the story, an adolescent boy named Paul. His character is complex and troubled, and the story is in a way a study of his nature, expressed in the subtitle as temperament. The subtitle of the story also indicates an assumed level of rational or scientific approach to examining Paul's character. Context Realism in American Literature The tradition of realism in literature, which can be dated back to early 19th-century France, continued as a movement through the early 20th century. In American literature, realism became a prominent movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many well-known American authors from this time period wrote in the realist style, including Mark Twain (1835–1910), Henry James (1843–1916), and Willa Cather. Realism is a style of writing or art that tries to accurately reproduce reality, as opposed to the focus on beauty and drama that can be found in 19th-century Romantic works. Realism emerged in the arts during a time of growing interest in scientific method and rationalism, reflecting a general shift away from Romanticism. A characteristic of realism in American literature is an emphasis on the depiction of reality rather than the unfolding of the plot. Realism also focuses more on the motives and personalities of complex characters rather than narrative plot. Many writers of literary realism delve into the complexity of human nature, using their characters as a vehicle for this exploration. Additionally, realism often focuses on the issues of the middle class, and many of the writers in this style were from middle-class backgrounds themselves.
Willa Cather fits firmly into the literary realist style, writing stories based on her own experiences of people and places. She is avidly interested in character development, and her writing is often characterized by a mixture of complex character studies and vivid sensory details. "Paul's Case" fulfills many of the most prominent characteristics of American literary realism. The story is a study of Paul's character and his temperament, as the subtitle "A Study in Temperament" openly states. The focus of the narrative is less on plot movement and more on the exploration of Paul's nature in action. Paul is from a lower middle-class background, and he longs for a life of wealth and glamour. "Paul's Case" could be considered an analogy for the literary shift from Romanticism to realism. Paul is a pure Romantic in a world that no longer values Romanticism, and his obsession with glamour and his aversion to the grittiness of reality eventually lead to
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