alking with the principal and other teachers of his, he was asked to explain why he was there. Paul just stated that he wanted to return to school and that this was his way of trying to be allowed back (68). In reality, “this was a lie, but Paul was quite accustomed to lying; found it, indeed, indispensable for overcoming friction” (68). In order to avoid who he really was and to gain the attention that he lacked, Paul turned to lies because he is shallow and very sensitive. He had limitations to his life on Cordelia Street, especially since his family did not have the amount of money Paul desired in order to be happy. Paul had few ways of escaping the dreariness of his home, and in result, he held hatred towards most people. His hatred rose from his lack of self - esteem – that is linked to the missing motherly love and low confidence of self worth in his world. Paul’s vivid imagination of what it could be like in another place tended to overtake his realism in conversation. Lies gave him the boosted self-assurance that he dreamed of as well as making him become noticed, whether it is negative or positive. He felt in charge and in control when someone was looking up to him and listening to what he had to say. Since he had no proper background of how to adequately interact with people, and respect others beliefs and values regardless of ones status, Paul lied to fit in. Paul 4 Yet another one of Paul’s teachers declared, “The boy is not strong. He was born in Colorado, only a few months before his mother died out there of a long illness. There is something wrong about the fellow.” (69). Paul knew no better because he was so lost inside himself in his feelings of depression and loneliness. He had been living on Cordelia Street forever and always held “the hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home” (71). There was no ...
