Paul’s greediness towards Keller continued to flourish as the story progressed. During the novel, Paul was curious about Keller’s past history, before he came to Darwin. The night before Paul left for the South, after completing school to pursue his dream, the young adult was granted his wish, as Keller began to tell his hidden past. After a few drinks, Keller began to tell Paul about his deceased family, but Paul wasn’t interested, he believed Rosie might already be waiting, parked in the street, wearing nothing underneath. He continued to glance at his watch, paying no attention to Keller, but Keller continued. Paul was impolite towards Keller and believed that Keller was only sharing his history with him to serve some ironic, drunken purpose of his own. The supposedly mature man was exceedingly avaricious, while Keller was gazing at the portrait on the piano, Paul was listening to a car tooting in the street, which he believed was of enormous sexual gravity. Paul’s selfishness was evident as he was only thinking about his sensual addiction, and wasn’t concerned about what his maestro was declaring.
Not only was Paul putting himself before Keller to satisfy his desires, he also was unfaithful towards his girlfriend, Rosie Zollo. When Paul first met Rosie, he disliked her because she was too much like him. However, as Paul got to know a little more about her, their relationship began to grow. When Paul meet Rosie at That Christmas in the South concert, he didn’t introduce her to his parents. This made her feel that Paul didn’t want her to meet his parents. Keeping this in mind, she decided to introduce herself. Even when Paul was dating Rosie, he was still fascinated by the girl of his dreams, Megan Murray. This showed that Paul unfaithful towards Rosie as he was still having fantasies about Megan. When Paul and Megan were alone, he forgot about his girlfriend and the self-centred male decided to fulfil his sexual dreams with Megan. Paul later realised that he was disloyal towards his girlfriend, so he decided to go to her house, and made love with her. This selfish performance only made him feel better about himself; he didn’t feel guilty, but terrified that he might lose her. It also enhanced his unfaithfulness while he was growing towards adulthood because once a cheat, always a cheat.
Paul’s lack of respect wasn’t only apparent in the way he treated his girlfriend, but was also evident in the way he treated his parents. Paul’s mother, Nancy, and father, John, only wanted the best for their son. After finding one of the greatest piano teachers in Darwin, Paul decided he didn’t want to attend his lessons and called Keller a sadist. This disappointed his father, as he believed that Keller was the finest piano educator and as a result sent Paul to his room. Whilst Paul went away to Adelaide for a music audition, he never contacted his parents, not even to tell them that he had arrived safely. This showed that Paul wasn’t concerned about his parent and once was putting himself before others, which enhanced his covetousness as he matured.
Paul’s egotism continued to grow whilst being a matured man. Undoubtedly, after realising how much his maestro has helped to shape the man he was know as, Paul became slightly sensitive towards Keller. Whilst Keller layed on hid deathbed, Paul went and visited him. As he came in contact with Keller, the words “wie gehts Maestro” were spoken on Paul’s behalf. This overwhelmed Keller, as it was the first time Paul sounded respectful. When Keller has passed away, Paul hurried to the hospice ward where he, for the first time lent over and kissed Keller. This showed that Paul, after all, did appreciative his maestro for the talent Keller brought out in him. Although he was slightly respectful to Keller, he was also imprudent, as he believed Keller was bad for him, the worst possible teacher as he revealed perfection to him. As Paul Crabbe attended a Thai restaurant in Smith Street his selfishness was evident, as the wedded gentleman was glancing at the waitress, and for an instance he considered asking her what time she finished work. This showed that even as a matured married man, Paul hadn’t changed and was still selfish, only considering himself to satisfy his sexual desires.
The talented Peter Goldsworthy in his novel Maestro clearly delved that one who’s selfish will always be selfish. Evidently, this was shown through the protagonist, Paul Crabbe. The central male character was seen as a narrow-minded youth. He handled his Maestro with no dignity and wasn’t interested by what he told him. His cupidity was also obvious in the way he treated his girlfriend and parents. Through these aspects of the novel, Peter Goldsworthy made it apparent that Paul Crabbe didn’t alternate from a selfish youth to a sensitive man, hence became an illiberal youth and remained as a self-seeking man.