In Alice Munro's "The Love of a Good Woman," the narrator reflects on the challenges of maintaining a moral superiority in life's struggles. The idea of needing to find a "high horse" highlights the conflict between wanting to feel righteous in the face of personal setbacks and the reality of those losses. This inner turmoil raises questions about the nature of pride and humility.
The quote encapsulates a desire for moral clarity, suggesting that the narrator grapples with the notion of flaunting defeats as a means to uphold a sense of virtue. This tension reveals the complexity of human emotions, where the need for self-justification can conflict with the acceptance of one's own failures.