"Paul's Case"

I found William Cather's story "Paul's Case" to be very sad. I hate to think that the young boy killed himself over being different, and not having others accept him in this harsh world. One of the things I found very interesting about the story was Cather's talk about Paul's red carnation in the story. The carnations pop up throughout the story, and seem to be a big part of the ending. I tried to note each time the carnations were mentioned to figure out what Cather was trying to say about them. The narrator spoke up Paul's carnations by saying, "His teachers felt that this afternoon his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and flippantly red carnation flower.."(Cather 203). The carnations are mentioned again after Paul is told by the Principal he could leave, by saying, "His bow was like a repetition of the scandalous red carnation" (Cather 203).
Towards the end of the story, right before Paul commits suicide, the red carnations pop up again. As Paul's senses becoming very aware to everything going on around him, he remembers seeing, "The toothless old woman from whom he had bought the red carnation flowers from in his coat" (Cather 214). These carnations were a symbol of Paul's being different, and that is why he took them wherever he went and wore them in his coat. Right before his death, Paul had noticed a change in his precious flowers. "The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; their red glory over" (Cather 214). Paul then put the carnation into the ground and covered it, as if to keep everything he spent hidden his entire life still a mystery.
This story reminded me of a movie I really enjoyed called "American Beauty." Like the red carnations in Paul's case, the movie had red roses that were shown throughout the movie. At the end of the movie, when the father kills himself, there is a still shot of the roses. The color red was a similarity throughout the too.