The Role Of Money And American Dream In Paul's Case

Money is supposed to be used to make life easier and better, but this does not mean that our society should be only revolving around money. In the story of “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather, Paul steals money and runs away from his town to live the American Dream. The story talks about a young man named Paul who dreams big but cannot accomplish his dreams. It is the American Dream which is a belief that no matter where a person was born, raised, or even the class he or she belonged to, he or she can still achieve what he or she wants and become the version he or she wants to be.

According to paul the setting he was living in did not belong to the American Dream; he also believed that he was meant to be rich. Lastly, Paul reaches his dream not through hard work but through crime.

The setting of the story did not represent the American Dream according to Paul, but in reality, that is not true.

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Every Sunday after going to church the people of Cordelia street gather around and have fun. Paul was never entertained by their talks. Once Paul’s dad was having a conversation with the young neighbour about how the neighbour will have a bright future and have a big jump in his life that will lead him to a glamorous luxurious life that he will reach by hard work (119). In reality, Cordelia street is an American Dream since it is away from the slums, and its people get to have the weekends off, but not according to Paul.

Paul saw his neighbourhood as a nightmare instead of a dream.

Secondly, Paul believed that he was meant to be rich and by some mistake, he was born poor, he had to work hard to become rich like those fancy company owners(119), but Paul never followed the same path of those rich ones because he was not interested in the phase of them working as cash boys. Paul always saw himself belonging among wealthy people:“All the actors and singers of the better class stayed there when they were in the city, and the number of the big manufacturers of the place lived there in an out, longing to enter and leave school-masters and dull care behind him forever”(Cather 116). Paul just loved the Carnegie hall; he used to go early to work only to look at paintings “it was the theatre and the Carnegie hall that paul really lived”(Cather 120). Paul always ignored his real life and just followed one that did not exist.

Paul makes his dream come true but trough crime instead of hard work:“yet it was but a day since he had been sulking in the traces; but yesterday afternoon that he had been sent to the bank with Denny & Carson’s deposit, as usual - but this time he was instructed to leave the book to be balanced. There was above two thousand dollars in checks and nearly a thousand in the bank notes which head taken from the book and quietly transferred to his pocket” (Cather, 124). Paul goes to New York City where he thinks he belongs. He lives a luxurious life; he stayed at a fancy hotel, bought himself a fancy outfit and jewelry that he has always dreamed of(125). Sadly, this lasted for only about a week until he found out that his crime has been committed, and his dad is on his way to come and get him. Which lead him to bury the red carnations that foreshadowed his death

In conclusion, in the story of “Paul’s Case” Willa Cather made the American Dream more clear. She stated how it actually should be and proved that the way Paul saw it was wrong. Since Paul would do anything to become rich, he left his town and headed to New York City by the stolen money. If Paul had followed a different path in his life, he would have lived his dream without having to lose his life.