SOURCE: “Narrative Irony and Hidden Motivations in Katherine Anne Porter's ‘He,’” in Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3, Autumn, 1982, pp. 405–13.

In the following essay, Moddelmog offers a psychoanalytical reading of Porter's “He.”

“He” has received varied critical attention in the fifty-five years since its publication, so varied in fact that the interpretations of its critics make one wonder whether they have read the same story. “He” is ostensibly about the Whipple family, but because Porter develops in detail only the relationship between Mrs. Whipple and her retarded son, the story becomes essentially a study of the psychology of that relationship. Critically, the key question seems to be how Porter wants the reader to react to Mrs. Whipple. Are we to view her finally with compassion, condemnation, or ambivalence?

Winfred Emmons, for example, says of the story's conclusion: “Everybody has done his best, but He was a problem that nobody...