Psychoanalysm in Literature: Facing Nature and the Unconscious Mind

Welty's "A Curtain of Green" is the story of Mrs. Larkin, a widow who is haunted by the memory of her husband's death, tortured by Nature's unfeeling disposition and by her tumultuous unconscious mind. Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" is the story of Miranda, who is cursed by Nature when she faces the possibility of her own death and that of her significant other because of plague and war, and at the same time is flooded with repressed memories of her past. Welty's Mrs. Larkin and Porter's Miranda are both entrapped in a chaotically relentless world where Nature cannot be controlled and memories come back to haunt the characters. The imagery within the stories depict the outward distortion of things while at the same time symbolize the interior chaotic nature of things. The characters try to escape Nature's cruel senselessness and fail doing so, but they accept their failure; acceptance of their inability to control nature, is what essentially sets them free. Ultimately, Mrs. Larkin and Miranda both travel through the dark depths of the unconscious mind and essentially undergo a transformation where they are free. Both characters face the ordeal of losing the love of their lives to Nature's dark side, but most significantly they accept their painful realities and learn to carry on with their lives.