In Katherine Anne Porter’s short story “He,” Porter portrays multiple conflicts between characters to represent the theme of the dangers of self-delusion. The protagonist of the story, Mrs. Whipple, is the mother of three children and keeps it no secret that she specifically favors her mentally-challenged son. However, she lives in blissful ignorance and strives to treat him exactly like her other children, which inevitably results in the decline of his health. Throughout the story, Mrs. Whipple ignores the advice of others, rebukes her husband’s attempt at rationality, and fights the maternal desire within her. The external and internal conflicts involving the Whipple family serve to show the reader the harms of self-delusion and its potentially destructive impact.
The majority of the conflicts depicted in “He” center around
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She wants those around her to admire her parenting and effort while respecting her decisions. However, she deludes herself into believing that any friendly advice she receives is ill-intentioned and refuses to listen to the input of others, stating “He’s my child, and I’m not going to have people say anything,” (Porter 260). This proves to only worsen her son’s health, as he collapses after she continually encourages him to do more physical labor, despite a neighbor’s past warning. Furthermore, Mrs. Whipple and her husband frequently argue about their children and their lifestyle. Mr. Whipple continually attempts to reason with Mrs. Whipple, truly desiring the best for his family’s well-being, despite his insensitive remarks towards his mentally-disabled son. He frequently criticizes Mrs. Whipple for her narrowmindedness, such as stating “it’s a waste and I don’t hold with the waste we are now,” (260) upon Mrs. Whipple wanting to prematurely slaughter a pig for an extravagant family dinner. Mrs. Whipple vehemently defends her actions and reproaches her husband’s opinions, believing she is faultless in her decisions. However, her delusion