Irrationality and Narcissism in “Paul’s Case:” An Explanatory Study of his Suicide

Abstract

The present study is a literary analysis of Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament” which attempts to provide an explanation for the main character’s decision of committing suicide. What apparently seems to be a decision made after a particular event is, actually, the result of a succession of events in the story. These events are driven by the presence of irrationality in the young protagonist, enhanced by a narcissistic personality disorder. In order to achieve this purpose, a psychological approach is implemented by means of two recent models in psychology: Personality Disorders and Ellis’ Rational Emotive Therapy. Through the analysis of this particular character, we attempt to make a contribution to the educational field. For this purpose, we apprise educators and other educational agents to identify and be able to deal with their students’ emotional disturbances to avoid their self-defeating behaviours.