not a usual case

Besides, similar to some writers, Paul is also attached to an skeptical attitudes towards reality as indicated by “ Paul wondered that there were honest men in the world at all…He doubted the reality of his past. ” At this point, I believe Paul shares with artist one thing that is to fix attention to the subtlety of objects with sharp insights. I guess here it may be the huge web of destination woven by the “Almighty Force”, determining the earthling’s fate. ”

Ostensibly, Paul is a boy good at exercising imagination as artists (especially writers) do. , “but Paul was quite accustomed to lying; found it, indeed, indispensable for overcoming friction”. After he is aware that what he is facing is insoluble and implacable, he takes ending his life as solution to his dilemma. They create a “real” look like the one in reality, while distant from reality, that is why there is a clear line of distinction between “artistic real” and “historical real” as many critics assume. Though tragic, I still think he completes his seeking for real “self” in a certain sense. Art is from real life, but above the real life. And it is questionable that “Paul dropped back in the immense design of things. Furthermore, Paul really owns abundant imagination, which could be proved by Willa Cathers’ remarks about him,

“ –well, he got what he wanted much more quickly from music; any sorts of music, from an orchestra to a barrel organ.

It is sufficiently evidenced that Paul is depicted as an artist-like young man in the story.

In this sense, I assert that Paul could be a reflection of Willa Cather herself, who also strived in the quagmire of reality and ideal. Paul consequently becomes the “scapegoat” for Willa Cather’s Catharsis of Psychology and emotions.