Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Performance plays an important role in Pale Horse, Pale Rider. The characters are stuck in an insincere, hollow society in which they’re expected to perform their emotions visibly. Patriotism, happiness, and community spirit must be performed at all times, out of fear of criticism. Characters even fear that they might lose their jobs if they don’t perform their patriotism by buying Liberty Bonds, for example. In this atmosphere of expected performance, Miranda’s job plays an important role. As a theater critic, she’s in a position to study and judge the performances of others. Miranda’s pessimism is tied to her professional ability to critique performance. She recognizes the performative nature of society, revealing to her the hollow emotional core of life during wartime. The knowledge that no one is being sincere and that all of society is acting as though everyone’s happy, patriotic, and communal, while they’re really feeling quite the opposite, makes her miserable. Miranda may be a theater critic but, in a society where performance is expected at all times, her career has turned her into a social critic. This social criticism only deepens her pessimism and robs her of optimism for the future.

Miranda’s role as a critic also subjects her to one of the few moments of violence in the story. Though Pale Horse, Pale Rider is ostensibly about war, violence is rarely portrayed. Instead, the characters are more traumatized by a creeping sense of impending doom. Dread more than violence is a common motif in the story. After Miranda writes a critical review of an actor, however, he approaches her outside a theater and demands an apology. He tells her that if she were a man, he’d hit her. The actor’s threat is a raw, unexpected act of violence in a society that is mostly numb and hollowed out. Because his threat is so unexpected, it cuts through the numbness. The actor demands an apology because he fears that criticism of his performance is criticism of his patriotism. Like Miranda, he understands the performative nature of society, and he fears that her review will expose him to accusations of unpatriotic behavior. He’s willing to threaten Miranda because in a society in which everyone performs their emotions, criticism of performance is criticism of adherence to society’s expectations.

As the story progresses, it draws a clear association between Miranda’s developing health issues and her nihilism. Throughout the story, she mentions that she feels unwell. She has aches and pains but typically associates them with her growing sense of dread. Her pessimistic attitude manifests in a physical way, and she feels her fear for the future acutely. As Adam’s time to leave draws nearer and as she hears news of a terrible disease reaching the US coast, Miranda’s pessimism intensifies. She fears what will happen when Adam leaves, and she expects this fear to cause more physical pain. As such, she ignores the early symptoms of the influenza. She pessimistically explains away these new pains by assuming that her sense of dread is increasing, rather than admitting to the possibility that she has contracted the disease. Ironically, Miranda’s pessimistic outlook blinds her to the true horror of what’s happening to her body. She spends so long nihilistically reflecting on the terrible nature of the world around her that she ignores the reality of her physical symptoms. In this instance, Miranda’s nihilism endangers her health, distracting her from the reality that her symptoms are worsening.