Paul's Case

The story “Paul’s case: a study in temperament” involves a young boy named Paul and his struggle to becoming happy with the life he lives. Paul is very different from the people in his town. Most people in his town such as his teachers or father may think of him as a rebel but really he is just unhappy with the life he is living. The one thing that brings him to term with his life is music. He feels as if he is locked in a cage and needs to be set free. Paul’s strangeness, his desire for the purple and for theatricality, does strike me as being a coded way of identifying him as gay.

            The story was written back in 1905 so I don’t think they were very open about men and women being homosexual, so I feel like most of the story was coded and there is a lot of inferring that needs to be done. Paul continuously refers to thing as being gay or fagged. A lot of the thing he called gay were unnecessary such as “The men on my block sat on gay cushions placed upon the steps that led down to the sidewalk”. I feel like he did not have to add the word gay in that statement. Many homosexuals don’t want to admit of them being different in this way so they get angry at it or try and make fun of it when really this is their way of trying to accept it. I personally have a cousin who is homosexual and all while we were younger he would make fun of other people or just act really mean towards homosexuals. He was trying to hate it so that maybe he wouldn’t turn out that way but as we know now that didn’t work because you just can’t change who you really are and I feel like this is what Paul was doing.

            They also mention how while Paul was in New York he meets a wild San Francisco boy, at freshmen at Yale. They explain how the young man offers to show Paul the night side of the town, and after that they went out to dinner not returning to the hotel till seven o’ clock the next morning.  There are many things that seem fishy about that. To me it sounds like Paul went on a date. No teenage boy wants to spend a whole night out with another male eating dinner, drinking Champaign and exploring the town. At that time in life teenage boys look at many things as being gay so because they are not fully mature yet they would stay away from situations like that. It says they didn’t return to the hotel till the next morning. I feel like there is no way they were outside that long just walking and exploring the town. It doesn’t say specifically what they did but I just inferred that they stayed out somewhere else and may have been sexually active with each other.

            Paul was very unhappy with the life he lived the only thing he enjoyed back at home was listening to the orchestra. He didn’t have much money, he got in trouble in school, he didn’t have many friends, and he felt like his father could not relate to him. He got so unhappy with his life to the point where one day after coming home from his ushering job he just crept into his house cold and wet and stayed in the dirty basement the whole night. He sat there having horrible thoughts thinking about ways his father may mistake him as a bugler and kill him, and he seemed okay with that. This is not normal I feel like Paul was suffering from depression. He was living in a world where he felt alone and different, but different in a bad way that he felt no one could accept or understand.

            Paul said that the time he spent in New York was the best time of his life. He got to live out his dream of feeling high class getting to listen to the orchestra eating fine food and drinking fine wine and I felt like he also got to be himself with the boy he meet there. When Paul finally got a taste of the good life he felt like going back to his old life would be worst than death itself. As time went on his father eventually found out that he snuck away and took all his money spending it in New York living a life he knew he could not afford. So people began to look for Paul. At this point Paul just couldn’t take it anymore he couldn’t go back to being that unhappy depressed young man he used to be so he decided to kill himself. He may have done this for many reasons. I feel like he did this because he knew he could not be accepted as a homosexual and because he knew he could not afford the life he wanted to live. If he went back to his home town he would have to work doing something he didn’t want to do because he got kicked out of school. Paul felt like there is no point in living this life if you can’t live it the way you want so killing himself was the best decision for him. He finally got set free and was able to move on to a place where he could be himself.

Should Abortion Be Illegal?

Abortions are very common. In fact, more than 1 out of 3 women in the U.S. have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old. It is the most common surgery in the United States. Women get abortions for many reasons. Some women feel like they are to young for children, or are not financially ready for them. While other women get abortions for medical reasons. The argument on weather Abortion should be legal or not is an argument that many people feel very strong about. Despite other citizens opinion I no abortions should be legal. I feel so strongly about this for many reasons.

            My first reason why I feel abortion should be legal is because it protects women’s health. If a women wants to get an abortion she will get it done by any means necessary. Such as secrete abortions without medical care. In the two decades before abortion was legal in the U.S., it's been estimated that nearly 1 million women per year sought out illegal abortions, which lead to the death of thousands.  Legal abortions also protect a woman’s health because there are many women who suffer from life threatening diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia, severe diabetes, and more. With diseases such as these child birth can lead to many complication for the mother and the child, even death. But with legal abortions these deaths can be prevented.

            I also feel abortion should be legal because forcing women to have a child can lead to the mistreatment of children. I feel that every child should be a wanted child. If a child is unwanted by a mother this could lead to the abandonment of the child, unloved, or even abuse. When they grow up, these children are often seriously disadvantaged, and sometimes inclined to brutal behavior toward others. This is not good for children, for families or for the country. Children need love and families who want and will care for them. Many women suffer from financial problems. If a women brings a baby into this world and she is not financially stable they could end up living on the streets, the baby can starve, and the baby can become ill from not having the necessary things for survival. A woman knows what best for her and her child, and if deciding to not the baby is the best reason no matter what the explanation is she should be allowed to do it.

            Another reason why I feel abortion should be legal because it promotes justice for women. Women have come a long way in history from being granted the right to vote to being able to run for president. Taking away a women’s right to vote only puts us a footstep backwards. I no that this is wrong; no human being should be forced to do anything they don’t want to do. Many people argue that getting an abortion is murder because it is killing a living thing. Well technically many women get abortions when first found out they are pregnant, such as while the baby is in the germinal stage or embryonic stage. At this point although the baby is growing it does not have all its organs such as the heart, so how can this be a living thing. This is eliminating something before it even gets to that point.

            Abortion should absolutely be legal. This is because it protects a women’s health, prevents a child from being unwanted and mistreated, and because it promotes justice for women. Although this topic will be argued for a long time by many people I feel my reasons are very understandable. People may think that abortion should be illegal now but if this truly happens the death rate will only go up.