Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Pale Horse, Pale Rider

At a glance:

Author: Katherine Anne Porter
First Published: 1938
Type of Plot: Symbolist
Time of Work: 1918
Setting: A small town in the foothills of the Rockies
Principal Characters: Miranda, Adam
Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction, Domestic realism
Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Love or romance, Suicide, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Guilt, West, U.S., Emotions, Reality, War, Farms, farmers, or farming, New Orleans, Death or dying, World War I, Hallucinations or illusions, Colorado, Southwest, Soldiers, Suffrage or voting rights, Life and death, Romanticism, Reporting or reporters, Texas, Horses, Women’s rights, Influenza, Racing
Locales: South (U.S.), New Orleans, LA, Colorado, Texas

The story begins in a first-person dream sequence with a southern gothic setting, complete with a five-times-removed cousin, a decrepit hound, horses used for fox hunting, and a “stranger” who will ride with the speaker at dawn. As the narrative shifts to the third person and Miranda wakes up to her dreary job on a small-town paper, her problems with adjusting to reality are shared by the reader, who is never given any clearer explanation of Miranda's past and its relation to her present situation.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Pale Horse, Pale Rider

At a glance:

The Story

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