Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Willa Cather's title "Paul's Case" (1905) invites us to ponder the question, "What exactly is Paul's Case?" Cather immediately informs us that Paul's case is mysterious. His own father is "perplexed" about his son's behavior, and the school faculty, who meet with Paul to discuss his recent suspension, speak of Paul with such "rancor" and "aggrieved ness" that it is obvious that Paul's is "not a usual case" (Cather, 1991, p. 221). At first, it appears that Paul is, perhaps, simply filled with the arrogance that adolescence sometimes brings, but, as Cather continues with Paul's case history, we learn that his problem is more deeply rooted. Paul's problem drives him to take his own life, and simple adolescent arrogance does not lead to such drastic measures. My diagnosis is that Paul suffers from what contemporary psychiatry calls a "narcissistic personality disorder."
The term, "narcissism" comes, of course, from the Greek myth of Narcissus.......
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