The Young Life of Paul Summary

Paul looks like his mother in his small stature and dark coloring and has an extremely sensitive nature including fits of crying that are not attributed to any particular cause. Paul is the child who is most sensitive to his mother's moods, especially when she has been fighting with Morel. Paul exhibits abusive behavior when he breaks Annie's doll and then sets it on fire to destroy it.

During this time, the family moves from The Bottoms neighborhood rowhouse to a single house on the crest of a hill. The children are frightened by all the space surrounding the house and are sure that terror lurks there, especially at night.

Paul begins to take on his mother's distaste for Morel's dirty drunken demeanor and stays close to his mother most of the time, thinking that...