Inception, Mal as a symbol

        Mal's continued appearances in Cobb's dreams represent Cobb's personal guilt in affecting others' dreams. Cobb feels responsible for his wife's death because he planted the idea of them killing themselves to escape the dream world into her subconscious, this idea eventually leads to her committing suicide in the real world. This guilt over that singular event has become generalized in Cobb's mind to guilt over all of his meddling in the dream world. in the film Mal is only disruptive to Cobb's dreams when he is on missions, in his normal dream state they are able to maintain a 'healthy' relationship. Because he has seen the endpoint of inception, Cobb feels guilty about any dream manipulation. this manifests itself in reminders of his specific meddling, for example in the city sequence it is a train that disrupts them. if Mal was a symbol of his grief over her death she would manifest in the form of a cliff or falling as that would be closer tied to her death, the use of the train connects more with Cobb's actions and guilt. Beyond the specific imagery she manifests in, when Mal appears it is to disrupt Cobb while he is working and particularly in moments of turmoil. when she disrupts Cobb at his job it is a way for Cobb to disrupt himself, a way for him to subconsciously show his guilt for his continued actions in dreams.