Paul is a young boy struggling with adolescence and has dreams that take him far away from his hometown and into the glamourous depths of New York City. He wants a better life, one in which he can attend the theater and lounge in soft bath robes and enjoy the high life, the luxuries. However, could this maybe be a metaphor for the freedom of his identity that he desires? Could it be that he wishes to be in a large city that would not notice him if he were to be himself truly and completely? This short story by Willa Cather does not directly address Paul struggling with his sexual identity, but there are a lot of descriptions of a darkness within Paul that sound very similar to what LGBT youth struggle with as they are growing up and coming to terms with who they are. Of course, the only way to know for sure would be to ask Willa Cather herself, but the case for Paul being gay can still be made. It certainly brings a whole new light to the short story. In order to make this case, however, the process of recognizing one’s sexual identity must be established, passages from the text have to support this process, stereotypes and treatment of gay people during the time this story was written must be noted, and a connection to the author and why she would write a story about someone struggling with his identity must be made.
According to V.C. Cass in a study conducted by Lee A. Beaty, there are “six non-age specific stages” of homosexual identity: identity awareness, identity comparison, identity tolerance, identity acceptance, identity pride, and synthesis (Beaty, “Identity Development”). The first stages are the most relevant to Paul. Identity awareness is not about the person knowing they are gay, but merely feeling that they are different from everyone around them and they know indeed that there is something about them that they can not explain or quite put their finger on. This stage is about the person knowing they have a secret and it surrounds them, but they don’t quite know the secret yet, at least not on a conscious level. Identity comparison is the person trying to act heterosexual in attempt to deny their self-identity and to blend in. These stages happen before the person questioning confirms their identity for themselves. These stages are similar to denial, an attempt to choose heterosexuality even if it is not a choice.
One night when Paul is on duty at the Carnegie, he arrives early instead of going home to eat dinner and he decides to roam the picture gallery and admire the artwork. He has quite a taste for these fine arts and he experiences delight at having this collection of class all to himself, yet as he leaves the gallery for work, he makes a face at a representation of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and an obscene gesture at a famous Greek statue depicting Venus (Cather 237). This artwork in particular could be considered the most worthy of artistic praise and they are well known classic pieces, yet he shows them such disrespect. He catches himself getting lost in this world, yet makes fun of it to distance himself and deny that part of himself that loves it so much. However, why should he be afraid of his fondness for artwork unless it could lead him or someone else to believe there was more to it than just a taste for fine art? Men who appreciate artwork are not afraid to appreciate artwork unless they fear the connotation, and if the connotation is not true, then there is no reason to fear it.
There are other signs that Paul is hiding something. He keeps a bottle of violet water to mask the smell of the soap he hates so much hidden in a drawer (Cather 241). Even more interesting is being concerned about the smell of his hands right before he leaves his house under the guise of meeting a schoolmate for geometry study when in fact he is going to see a young actor that he admires greatly (Cather 241). He spends so much time with this actor and follows him around every chance he gets that it would make one wonder if his admiration was not solely based around the young man being a talented actor or part of the life Paul so desperately seeks, but if perhaps he was infatuated for other reasons. After all, Paul lied to his father about where he was going, made sure he smelled nice, and “shook off the lethargy of two deadening days and began to live again” only when he was on the street car and headed towards the actor’s rehearsal and dressing room (Cather 241).
There are a few passages in the short story when Paul is referencing a darkness in himself. One of the most powerful passages would be the following,
"The only thing that at all surprised him was his own courage – for he realized well enough that he had been tormented by fear, a sort of apprehensive dread that, of late years, as the meshes of the lies he had told closed about him, had been pulling the muscles of his body tighter and tighter. Until now he could not remember the time when had not been dreading something. Even when he was a little boy it was there – behind him, or before, or on either side. There had always been the shadowed corner, the dark place into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him – and Paul had done things that were not pretty to watch, he knew (Cather 244)."
This passage is supportive as it alludes to him feeling something surrounding him on all sides, but he does not name it. He fears a corner of his mind and he knows what’s there, but he refuses to acknowledge it or accept its existence. What is also unsettling about this passage is Paul mentions he has “done things that were not pretty to watch,” but reading the story in its entirety, this conclusion makes no sense. Paul is described as a trouble maker and he is different from his peers and they treat him as different, but other than embezzling the funds from his employer, he is not guilty of any crime or indiscretion that would warrant such a crushing feeling of guilt and self-loathing. What are these things he has done that were not pretty to watch? It certainly inspires the reader to question Paul and wonder what he is hiding from himself.
Previously stated were the stages of self-identity in homosexuals. Not all of these stages are relevant to Paul not only because of his suicide and therefore inability to continue on that journey, but also because he did not allow himself to reach those stages. However, he does come to an acceptance of himself towards the end while contemplating his suicide. He “had looked into the dark corner at last and knew. It was bad enough what he saw there, but somehow not so bad as his long fear of it had been” (Cather 248). The problem with this passage is the question of what he found. Paul is not a terrible person, but it is almost as if he is looking back on a lifetime of evil and immoral conduct. What did he see in the corner? This description is so vague that it could be applied to many situations. However, it can be agreed that one of those applicable situations would be someone recognizing their sexual identity, especially if they were to do so in a time that was not nearly as accepting as today’s world.
Willa Cather wrote this short story around 1905 while living in Pittsburgh. During this time, homosexuality was considered an illness. “By the end of the 19th century, medicine and psychiatry were effectively competing with religion and the law for jurisdiction over sexuality. As a consequence, discourse about homosexuality expanded from the realms of sin and crime to include that of pathology” (“Facts About Homosexuality”). With this general attitude towards homosexuality, it would presumably be difficult to craft a short story that blatantly describes a young man struggling with his sexual orientation, so any such tale would have to be vague and applicable to many things. This would explain why the reader is never really told what is in Paul’s personal dark corner and why he is so afraid of it.
The description of homosexuality being pathological in this time might also explain the title of the story. While ill, the patient in question would be referred to as the subject of a case. It would not be unreasonable to assume that “Paul’s Case” is a medical case. This reference to a medical or maybe psychiatric setting would make sense considering the possible purpose and content in the story.
Of course, why would writing such a story appeal to Willa Cather? There have been many inquiries into her sexuality. After reading a long biographical sketch of her, it would not be a leap to assume she was a lesbian. She never married in her life and she kept very close female friends throughout her lifetime. She was very close to Isabelle McClung and even stayed in the McClung home for a short time (Ahearn, “Willa Cather”). She also had a fast friendship with an opera diva by the name of Olive Fremstad and wrote a book featuring a character very similar to Fremstad (Ahearn, “Willa Cather”). Her deepest and most enduring relationships were with women. It is not clear or confirmed if these relationships were sexual, but those relationships would not have to be sexual in order for Cather to have been a lesbian.
It is not just her associations that are suspicious and worthy of a raised eyebrow, however. Before her death, Cather attempted to destroy all of her letters and left very firm instructions in her will that any remaining letters were to be kept secret and out of the public eye. While it is understandable that someone would want their privacy protected, to go to this extreme is curious. What was she hiding? What secret rested on the pages of correspondence she shared with her close friends and colleagues? It could be any number of things, but considering the rest of the evidence, it would not be a stretch to assume that she was attempting to conceal her sexual orientation.
“Paul’s Case” has been analyzed before, but if there are reviews that suggest Paul is a homosexual, they are not easy to find. This perspective on the story certainly should not be the only interpretation, but there is evidence to suggest it being a possibility. As with all stories, the meaning is up to the reader. Scholars and literary experts can dissect the written word for years at a time, but that does not mean a reader has to agree with them. The beauty of literature is that the reader can take from it what is relevant to them and what they find to be easily relatable. It would be much more intriguing if Willa Cather were still alive today and able to enlighten her readers concerning her work. If she was a homosexual, then perhaps if she had lived longer, or had been born just a decade or two later, she could have reached a time in American society when it would be acceptable and she could come out and reveal herself, answering this question about Paul and her own identity once and for all: was it really Paul looking into a dark corner in that hotel room and realizing a gun was not the way out, or was it Cather looking into her own dark corner?
Beaty, Lee A. "Identity Development of Homosexual Youth and Parental and Familial
Influences on the Coming Out Process." Adolescence 34.135 (1999): 597-601. ProQuest.
Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
“Facts About Homosexuality and Mental Health.” Sexual Orientation: Science, Education,
Policy. Dr. Gregory Herek, August 2014. Web. 16 November 2015.
Ahearn, Amy. “Willa Cather: A Longer Biographical Sketch.” The Willa Cather Archive. The
Willa Cather Archive, May 2015. Web. 16 November 2015.
According to V.C. Cass in a study conducted by Lee A. Beaty, there are “six non-age specific stages” of homosexual identity: identity awareness, identity comparison, identity tolerance, identity acceptance, identity pride, and synthesis (Beaty, “Identity Development”). The first stages are the most relevant to Paul. Identity awareness is not about the person knowing they are gay, but merely feeling that they are different from everyone around them and they know indeed that there is something about them that they can not explain or quite put their finger on. This stage is about the person knowing they have a secret and it surrounds them, but they don’t quite know the secret yet, at least not on a conscious level. Identity comparison is the person trying to act heterosexual in attempt to deny their self-identity and to blend in. These stages happen before the person questioning confirms their identity for themselves. These stages are similar to denial, an attempt to choose heterosexuality even if it is not a choice.
One night when Paul is on duty at the Carnegie, he arrives early instead of going home to eat dinner and he decides to roam the picture gallery and admire the artwork. He has quite a taste for these fine arts and he experiences delight at having this collection of class all to himself, yet as he leaves the gallery for work, he makes a face at a representation of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and an obscene gesture at a famous Greek statue depicting Venus (Cather 237). This artwork in particular could be considered the most worthy of artistic praise and they are well known classic pieces, yet he shows them such disrespect. He catches himself getting lost in this world, yet makes fun of it to distance himself and deny that part of himself that loves it so much. However, why should he be afraid of his fondness for artwork unless it could lead him or someone else to believe there was more to it than just a taste for fine art? Men who appreciate artwork are not afraid to appreciate artwork unless they fear the connotation, and if the connotation is not true, then there is no reason to fear it.
There are other signs that Paul is hiding something. He keeps a bottle of violet water to mask the smell of the soap he hates so much hidden in a drawer (Cather 241). Even more interesting is being concerned about the smell of his hands right before he leaves his house under the guise of meeting a schoolmate for geometry study when in fact he is going to see a young actor that he admires greatly (Cather 241). He spends so much time with this actor and follows him around every chance he gets that it would make one wonder if his admiration was not solely based around the young man being a talented actor or part of the life Paul so desperately seeks, but if perhaps he was infatuated for other reasons. After all, Paul lied to his father about where he was going, made sure he smelled nice, and “shook off the lethargy of two deadening days and began to live again” only when he was on the street car and headed towards the actor’s rehearsal and dressing room (Cather 241).
There are a few passages in the short story when Paul is referencing a darkness in himself. One of the most powerful passages would be the following,
"The only thing that at all surprised him was his own courage – for he realized well enough that he had been tormented by fear, a sort of apprehensive dread that, of late years, as the meshes of the lies he had told closed about him, had been pulling the muscles of his body tighter and tighter. Until now he could not remember the time when had not been dreading something. Even when he was a little boy it was there – behind him, or before, or on either side. There had always been the shadowed corner, the dark place into which he dared not look, but from which something seemed always to be watching him – and Paul had done things that were not pretty to watch, he knew (Cather 244)."
This passage is supportive as it alludes to him feeling something surrounding him on all sides, but he does not name it. He fears a corner of his mind and he knows what’s there, but he refuses to acknowledge it or accept its existence. What is also unsettling about this passage is Paul mentions he has “done things that were not pretty to watch,” but reading the story in its entirety, this conclusion makes no sense. Paul is described as a trouble maker and he is different from his peers and they treat him as different, but other than embezzling the funds from his employer, he is not guilty of any crime or indiscretion that would warrant such a crushing feeling of guilt and self-loathing. What are these things he has done that were not pretty to watch? It certainly inspires the reader to question Paul and wonder what he is hiding from himself.
Previously stated were the stages of self-identity in homosexuals. Not all of these stages are relevant to Paul not only because of his suicide and therefore inability to continue on that journey, but also because he did not allow himself to reach those stages. However, he does come to an acceptance of himself towards the end while contemplating his suicide. He “had looked into the dark corner at last and knew. It was bad enough what he saw there, but somehow not so bad as his long fear of it had been” (Cather 248). The problem with this passage is the question of what he found. Paul is not a terrible person, but it is almost as if he is looking back on a lifetime of evil and immoral conduct. What did he see in the corner? This description is so vague that it could be applied to many situations. However, it can be agreed that one of those applicable situations would be someone recognizing their sexual identity, especially if they were to do so in a time that was not nearly as accepting as today’s world.
Willa Cather wrote this short story around 1905 while living in Pittsburgh. During this time, homosexuality was considered an illness. “By the end of the 19th century, medicine and psychiatry were effectively competing with religion and the law for jurisdiction over sexuality. As a consequence, discourse about homosexuality expanded from the realms of sin and crime to include that of pathology” (“Facts About Homosexuality”). With this general attitude towards homosexuality, it would presumably be difficult to craft a short story that blatantly describes a young man struggling with his sexual orientation, so any such tale would have to be vague and applicable to many things. This would explain why the reader is never really told what is in Paul’s personal dark corner and why he is so afraid of it.
The description of homosexuality being pathological in this time might also explain the title of the story. While ill, the patient in question would be referred to as the subject of a case. It would not be unreasonable to assume that “Paul’s Case” is a medical case. This reference to a medical or maybe psychiatric setting would make sense considering the possible purpose and content in the story.
Of course, why would writing such a story appeal to Willa Cather? There have been many inquiries into her sexuality. After reading a long biographical sketch of her, it would not be a leap to assume she was a lesbian. She never married in her life and she kept very close female friends throughout her lifetime. She was very close to Isabelle McClung and even stayed in the McClung home for a short time (Ahearn, “Willa Cather”). She also had a fast friendship with an opera diva by the name of Olive Fremstad and wrote a book featuring a character very similar to Fremstad (Ahearn, “Willa Cather”). Her deepest and most enduring relationships were with women. It is not clear or confirmed if these relationships were sexual, but those relationships would not have to be sexual in order for Cather to have been a lesbian.
It is not just her associations that are suspicious and worthy of a raised eyebrow, however. Before her death, Cather attempted to destroy all of her letters and left very firm instructions in her will that any remaining letters were to be kept secret and out of the public eye. While it is understandable that someone would want their privacy protected, to go to this extreme is curious. What was she hiding? What secret rested on the pages of correspondence she shared with her close friends and colleagues? It could be any number of things, but considering the rest of the evidence, it would not be a stretch to assume that she was attempting to conceal her sexual orientation.
“Paul’s Case” has been analyzed before, but if there are reviews that suggest Paul is a homosexual, they are not easy to find. This perspective on the story certainly should not be the only interpretation, but there is evidence to suggest it being a possibility. As with all stories, the meaning is up to the reader. Scholars and literary experts can dissect the written word for years at a time, but that does not mean a reader has to agree with them. The beauty of literature is that the reader can take from it what is relevant to them and what they find to be easily relatable. It would be much more intriguing if Willa Cather were still alive today and able to enlighten her readers concerning her work. If she was a homosexual, then perhaps if she had lived longer, or had been born just a decade or two later, she could have reached a time in American society when it would be acceptable and she could come out and reveal herself, answering this question about Paul and her own identity once and for all: was it really Paul looking into a dark corner in that hotel room and realizing a gun was not the way out, or was it Cather looking into her own dark corner?
Beaty, Lee A. "Identity Development of Homosexual Youth and Parental and Familial
Influences on the Coming Out Process." Adolescence 34.135 (1999): 597-601. ProQuest.
Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
“Facts About Homosexuality and Mental Health.” Sexual Orientation: Science, Education,
Policy. Dr. Gregory Herek, August 2014. Web. 16 November 2015.
Ahearn, Amy. “Willa Cather: A Longer Biographical Sketch.” The Willa Cather Archive. The
Willa Cather Archive, May 2015. Web. 16 November 2015.