Paul is the father of a family of three in “The Lamp at Noon” who wants what is best for his family.
He can be very protective of his farm and the baby. Full of patience and hope, Paul seems to have a passion for farming, but not much knowledge of it. Having been raised on a farm and taught to farm, Paul doesn’t seem to want to do anything else but to work the land until he gets his crops. Unfortunately for Paul, drought and dust storms have been destroying the land for many years, and they keep coming back year, after year.
The soil’s nutrients are disappearing, and the land has all been blown away, leaving only sand. He does not like Ellen’s idea of moving back with her parents. “I can’t go, Ellen. Living off your people-charity stops and think of it.
This is where I belong. I can’t do anything else. ” He didn’t want to lose his pride and work in small shop sweeping floors, so he settled for failure. He always dreamed of the day where the land would bring him wealth and he can live happily ever after.
The blindness of Paul’s actions is evident in the story. Even Ellen, acknowledges that the crops will never grow and that they live in a desert. Paul’s bad decisions led to the death of his precious baby, the possible loss of his wife and a lifetime of agony. Paul had a hard decision to make between leaving his farm or his life as he knows it and listening to his wife or staying and doing what he thinks is right.
