S e n t e n c e  O u t l i n e:

Title:  Paul's Just Case

Thesis: Paul's decision to kill himself is just, and therefore moderate, wise, and courageous.

Topic sentences:

1. Paul is just in killing himself because he possesses moderation.

2. In order to be just in his decision to kill himself, he must also possess the virtue of wisdom.

3. To also be just in killing himself, Paul must possess the virtue of courage.

4. Paul has the virtues of moderation, wisdom, and courage, and therefore must be just.

Note that the thesis is definitely debatable (which is good); many would disagree that suicide could qualify as in accordance with Socrates' concept of justice. Furthermore, from the thesis alone you can see that the rest of the paper pretty well has to deal with four things concerning Paul: 1) moderation, 2) wisdom, 3) courage, and 4) how these three virtues relate to justice. That's exactly what the topic sentences do, which gives this paper an admirably clear and coherent overall organization. Also notice that the several quotations are briefly introduced, and then immediately followed by a comment that indicates the significance of the quote. A recommended improvement for the thesis is: replace "and therefore" with "because it is." Do you see why?

                                            PAUL'S JUST CASE

        In "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather, Paul becomes aware of the fact that his life is not exactly what could be called "liveable." His physical home leaves something to be desired, his teachers clearly dislike him, and his father is not the "model" father. Paul feels that these things are unjust and detrimental to his life. Due to the unjust things in his life, he decides to rid himself of them by running away. Later on when he decides to kill himself, he showcases his possession of the cardinal virtues. Paul's decision to kill himself is just, and therefore moderate, wise, and courageous.

        Paul is just in killing himself because he possesses moderation. Socrates says moderation is agreement between the classes of society (432b). For an individual, moderation is agreement between the parts of the soul. Paul has moderation due to the fact that he does kill himself. The parts of the soul were apparently in agreement. Evidence that his soul was in agreement is that he would not have killed himself if it were divided. The parts of his soul had to come to the same conclusion. For Paul that conclusion was suicide; the reasoning part decided that the only way to escape his dreadful life at home was to kill himself, the spirited part actually caused Paul to jump in front of the train, and the appetitive part caused Paul to want to jump in front of the train. To explain what all of this means, Gary Colwell presents this argument, "Harmony in the soul, that is, in the individual, results from reason controlling and guiding the individual's life, with the passions and appetites serving in subordinate positions below" (400). According to this, in order to have moderation you have to have harmony in the soul. A person's whole life has to be governed by his reasoning. This determines whether or not an action is just. So, if Paul's soul was unified, he could carry out the action he was considering. He would have, however, reason that the action would be just or not in order for his soul to be unified. If his soul is unified, then it is naturally in harmony with itself. Paul's soul is unified. It has to be in order for him to make the decision to kill himself and actually carry out the deed. So, Paul's soul is in harmony, and therefore he has the virtue of moderation.

        In order to be just in his decision to kill himself, he must also possess the virtue of wisdom. Socrates says wisdom is the knowledge above all other kinds of knowledge (429a). Wisdom is also knowledge of what is good for a city. For an individual, wisdom has to be knowledge of what is good for the individual. Paul knows what is good for himself because he knows that he cannot go back to his other lifestyle of living. Michael Salda would agree to this because he says that Paul "dreads returning to his (almost literally) colorless life on Cordelia Street, and most of all dreads meeting his father, explaining why he is so late" (115). Paul knows he cannot live in an environment like that. The only good thing to do is to commit suicide because he does not want to live in an unjust life.

        To also be just in killing himself, Paul must possess the virtue of courage. Socrates explains that courage is knowing what to fear and what not to fear (430b). Paul clearly has courage. He knows what to fear because he cannot let his father come and retrieve him to take him home, the place he could not approach "without a shudder of loathing" (Cather 108). Paul also knows what not to fear. If he feared death, he could not have jumped in front of the train. Loretta Wasserman comments on this by pointing out, "With judgment closing in, and death his only way out, Paul still has no regrets" (127). Paul has no regrets because he has lived his life fully and justly. If he had had regrets, then he would not have had the courage to jump in front of the train.

        Paul has the virtues of moderation, wisdom, and courage, and therefore must be just. Socrates says that justice for the individual is doing the work of your own. He argues:

 One who. . . does not allow any part of himself to do the work of another part or allow the various classes within him to meddle with each other. He regulates well what is really his own . . . He binds together those parts and any others in between, and from having been many things he becomes entirely one, moderate and harmonious . . .And when he does anything . . . he believes that the action is just and fine that preserves this inner harmony and helps achieve it . . And he believes that the action that destroys this harmony is unjust (443d- 444a).
Paul follows this explanation to the letter. He governs himself by his own decisions and does not allow outside influences. If he had listened to other advice, he might not have jumped in front of the train. This advice would have been inharmonious and therefore unjust. The result of listening to this advice is that Paul would have been brought home with his father and reintroduced to his previous unjust life. To preserve Paul's "inner harmony" (443e), he has to kill himself. Suicide was the only thing left o make Paul happy. Gregory Vlastos, in his review of Terence Irwin's article, "Plato's Moral Theory," argues that "when we have been brought to see what our soul would be like if it were Platonically just (intellect, emotion, and appetite rationally harmonized in friendly, nonrepressive, order) . . . we shall have gained a new vision of happiness, which only that kind of soul . . . could realize" (127). Paul is happy because he escapes the pressures of life. Paul's decision to kill himself takes into account all of the cardinal virtues and is therefore just.

END