In both “Beyond the Bayou” and “Ma-ame Pelagie,” the central female character must overcome a personal barrier for the sake of someone else, yet these characters are very different.

In essence, "Ma'ame Pélagie" is a story about the death of the Civil War generation and the transition from past history to the future and a new era. Ma'ame Pélagie is a relic of a time before the destruction of Côte Joyeuse, and she thus displays a skewed awareness of time that focuses almost exclusively on the past. Like Ma'ame Pélagie, La Folle lives in a cabin past an abandoned field next to the bayou, and she has never visited the woods beyond her home. La Folle has never crossed the bayou, even when the mistress of Bellissime died. Both are stuck in their own circumstance unwilling to move past the the obstructions that block their lives. Both women have an inner struggle involving the past. Although both women meet with different endings, they both provide hope and future for others.