The Position of Women in "Paul's Case"

"Paul's Case," by Willa Cather is an engaging story of a disturbed mind. When read from a Feminist perspective, it is also riddled with symbols of the inequalities between men and women. This story exemplifies "how women have been led to imagine themselves and their lives". It is often implied that Paul is so troubled because he has no mother. The story takes for granted that women deserve to be treated with a greater gentleness and courtesy than men. Within the story, females are appreciated only when they are serving men in some shallow capacity. When women are in a position of authority or truly useful, they are portrayed as vicious and bitter. They are unhappy in their positions and possibly incapable of fulfilling them. Over all, women are clearly different and often much less capable than men.

The story infers that Paul's psychological issues stem from the lack of motherly influence in his life. The story opens with Paul's father confessing to Paul's principal, "his perplexity about his son." Raising a child is a mother's job, and his father is ill equipped for the task. In Paul's cookie-cutter neighborhood, the women, "in their Sunday 'waists,' sat in rockers on the cramped porches." Every 'normal' family had a motherly figure within it. The author goes into great description of the normalcy of such homes, implying Paul's abnormality is due to the variance.

Not having a mother leaves an emotional void within Paul that he strives to fill throughout the story. Paul's thoughts of his room include a description of a framed motto made by his mother, "whom Paul could not remember.". He has been without a mother for as long as he can recall. This is important to keep in mind when he talks of the beginnings of his psychological problems. When thinking about his theft, Paul realizes that, "even when he was a little boy, it was always there". There was no evident catalyst for his problems. Had he lost his mother at a later age, there would have been, and their source would have been more evident. Since she has been gone since he was a baby, his issues have been growing since that time, as well.

At some point before this story takes place, Paul discovered that typically feminine interests in art and beauty temporarily stayed his need for a maternal figure. The story is truly about how his pursuit of such things consumes him. It describes how during the symphony, "he lost himself," and upon its completion, "he had this feeling of not being able to let down; of its being impossible to give up this delicious excitement which was the only thing that could be called living at all." If taken out of context, this can easily be the description of a drug addiction. Paul has found a means to fill the void left by his mother. The femininity of his addiction is more clearly defined by his fascination with flowers. They appear whenever he feels fulfilled. In the hotel he sends for flowers, he notes the flower gardens while he is riding through New York, and they are with him at his dream-like dinner at the Waldorf. He has reached a peak in his high and the presence of the flowers replaces the presence of a mother.

Eventually he realizes he cannot make it permanent. He cannot bring himself to shoot himself in front of the motherly flowers in his room, yet he needs flowers to accompany him till the end. Near the end of the story the flowers, "were drooping with the cold...all their red glory over." They drooped with sadness, expressing the emotion a mother would have at such a turn of events. They also symbolize his acceptance that he will never have a permanent maternal figure. Then he "took one of the blossoms carefully from his coat and scooped a little hole in the snow, where he covered it up." This symbolizes his finally burying his lost mother, and giving up on filling the void within him.

Women, by gender, possess a fragility not inherent to men. When Paul watches the last singer exit the concert hall, he observes that she is, "accompanied by the conductor, who helped her into her carriage and closed the door." The story does not mention any kind of disability that would prevent her from stepping into a carriage and closing a door by herself. She has the help of a man for those things. The author is instead taking for granted that women either need or deserve such gentle treatment. When Paul is in front of the school faculty, the principal asks him if he feels a past remark was "a courteous speech to make to a woman." He did not ask if it was simply courteous speech. It was notably more inappropriate to make such a remark to a woman than it would have been to a man. Again it is simply taken for granted that woman should be treated with a higher level of courtesy and gentility than men.

As such fragile beings, women belong in a lower position than men. They are most revered and loved when they are in a position of gentle service. The soloist at the concert hall was described wearing, "a satin gown and a tiara, and she had that indefinable air of achievement." She was performing for the entertainment of the crowd, and was adored for her fine clothes. She had no authority or power, and her value was superficial and vain. In Paul's neighborhood, it was always a merry time when his sisters made lemonade. He remembers how, "this the girls thought very fine, and the neighbors joke about the suspicious color of the pitcher." It is always pleasing for 'normal' folks like those in Paul's neighborhood to see girls happily serving them. That is their rightful place, and they should be pleased with it.

On the other hand, it can never be good for a woman to work in any necessary fashion. They are always very unhappy in their positions, and the motherless boy is the focal point of their aggression. When Paul is being accused by his teachers, the only ones to have their gender identified are those making the most vicious attacks. After identifying his English teacher as female the reader is told "they fell upon him without mercy, his English teacher leading the pack." A child's teacher takes on many of the responsibilities of a parent. It seems that these women, having forsaken their 'natural roles' for one of real authority, are harder on the boy than anyone else. Those most capable of providing a maternal figure seem to take particular offense at his need for one. When Paul's lies began to spread, the reader learns that the members of the stock company were amused by them. The reader also learns that, "they were hard working women...and they laughed rather bitterly at having stirred the boy to such fervid and florid inventions." While the men are amused, the working women are bitter. There is an unpleasant feel whenever working women are described. They are discontented with themselves and take it out on Paul.

Men and women seem to have vastly different places in life within this story. In Paul's neighborhood the men discuss their successes and the successes of their sons, while the girls talk about "how many shirtwaists they had made last week, and how many waffles someone had eaten at the last church supper." Normal, content men are successful. Normal, content boys are successful. Normal, content women and girls do not care about personal success, but instead concern themselves with more superficial matters. Even in the wonderful Carnegie Hall, roles are clear. When Paul begins to prepare himself for work "half a dozen boys were there already." All the ushers are male. All the regular employees mentioned are male. Women take on only the most superficial roles, as performers or audience members. That is the idealistic atmosphere most strived for throughout the story.

Even as an audience member, a working woman is horribly out of place in such a wondrous atmosphere. When Paul sees his English teacher, "he looked her over and decided that she was not appropriately dressed and must be a fool to sit downstairs in such togs." She had forsaken her superficial role, and now stood out among the upstanding men and women of the theater. It was all the more obvious when, "she betrayed some embarrassment when she handed Paul the tickets, and a hauteur which subsequently made her feel very foolish." Even she knows she does not belong in the grand concert hall. She is unworthy of its greatness, and stands out from the roles society accepts.

This story tells the reader, in so many ways, that women are set apart from men. They each have defined roles, and cannot be happy outside of them. Only discontent and trouble can result from any attempt to deviate from that norm. Paul struggles his whole life with the lack of a mother in his life. Only a woman can raise a child right. Teachers and other working women remind the reader of miserable beasts, attacking those who need them most because they have gone against such concepts. They can never fit in with proper men and women. Over all the story tells the reader that to succeed in life, a child must have a mother. It also tells us that to be happy in life a woman must not seek success or authority, but instead seek beauty and be a good source of entertainment for others.