It is a widely known idea that times change and people change. After major world events, there are often changes in the world's popular culture. After the Great War, writers began a new style of literature that came to be known as modernism. Modernism deals with conflicts between social classes, eclecticism for the past and the finer things in life, and the further advancement of society. All of these aspects of modernism are present in the short story "Paul's Case," by Willa Cather, and they all affect the evolution of the plot. These things drive the main character, Paul crazy and lead him to do a lot of wildly extravagant things in this story.

There have always been and will always be conflicts between social classes, and this story is no different. People always want more than they have and they envy the people who have it. Paul...