In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, we learn of an elderly woman who is lying on her death bed watching her life pass before her eyes. We learn, from these flashbacks, how much she has overcome and endured, and how she's put her whole heart into being a mother and wife up until her last breath, when she blew out the candle and rode with her Father in a cart to heaven. It’s this very reason why Porter, in my opinion, chose Granny as the narrator of this story; so we could see the story through her eyes, being able to relate and appreciate it better.
From the very beginning of this story, it came to my attention that Granny continually repeats are "there's nothing wrong with me" and "that's for tomorrow.” This repetition, to me, shows two very important aspects about Granny Weatherall as a person – she’s stubborn and hardworking, yet procrastinates all the time. When she felt death come upon her on her bed that day, she wasn't expecting it. We know this because of the repetition of all that she needs to do and that she'll get it done tomorrow. At the same, who can blame her for not expecting it? I mean, who really expects to die every day they wake up? Sure, one knows they are going to die, but they don’t wake up planning it to happen that day. Aside from that, it stood out to me that Granny Weatherall didn’t fail to mention that she thought she was going to die once before during her sixties. From this near death experience, she somehow, in my opinion, allowed herself to think she was invisible and immortal simply because she managed to survive.
This leads me into my next point. Her mindset of invisibility and immortality allowed Porter to usefully use denial as theme in this story. Granny Weatherall ...
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...d to go through, and the obstacles that came in her way, which she took head on, without having any other option. She describes herself as once being "a young woman with the peaked Spanish comb in her hair and the painted fan". Granny Weatherall was changed from this young woman to a different young woman, a stronger, innocent, young woman, the day her groom, George left her at the altar. At the same time, we learn that she did move on with her life after some time.
All in all, the story was rather sad but eye-opening. I believe Porter’s approach to writing this story allowed readers to reflect back on their own lives and examine both the good and not-so-good times. It shows people not to just live life through the motions, but rather, to look at it as beautiful journey as no one wants to end up like Granny Weatherall and realize that with she never really lived.
To begin, Granny Weatherall is inherently a prideful controlfreak. Granny Weatherall is at her deathbed, facing everything she has staved off for so long. This and all other adversity she faces throughout the short story map out her true personality. For instance, she is full of pride. When that pride takes a hit, as it does several times throughout the short story she metaphorically hits back at whoever or whatever
In the story, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, written by Katherine Porter, Granny Weatherall is a character of depth. Her name is synomonous with her character. Three main qualities of her character are her strength, her endurance, and her vulnerability. Her strength is not so much physical but mental. She lies upon her bed contemplating all that she needs to do. Her daughter Cornelia does not even come close to handling affairs as well as she does in her own mind. In addition, she tell the Doctor Leave a well women alone...I'll call you when I need you. She does not like the patronizing position that she finds herself in. The fact that she has already avoided death once seems to add to her image of strength. As we follow her mental ramblings we obtain insight to her character as a woman that has endured heartache as well as hardship.
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall is about an older woman who is coming to terms with death, and the losses in her life. Throughout the story, Granny has many memories from her life, including ones about her children and her lovers. Granny thinks that she has accepted death, but realizes that she has not.
By using the stream of consciousness technique, Porter establishes Granny Weatherall's background. The occasional glimpse into the main character's past reveals the demanding responsibilities of a young widow. She reflects on how digging post holes, riding country roads in the winter, and sitting up nights with sick horses, negroes, and children, changed her from the bride her late husband had known. Furthermore, the technique challenges the reader to draw conclusions from the vague references of death of her husband, John, and her daughter, Hapsy. Granny Weatherall imagines seeing John again, pondering on how her children a...
Control, power, and influence are all things that people strive for throughout their lives. When a powerful person grows old however, their power may slip in spite their attempts to maintain control. An elderly person may feel useless, or they may have feelings of loss, regret, or waste. Issues of aging, control, and feelings of waste are something Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" describes with vivid detail.
There is a great focal point through out the entire story, which is her last name, Weatherall. Granny prevailed in everything that was, bestowed upon her. George jilted her at a young age, but she went on and married a man named John, which was her children's father. Granny and John had four children Hapsy, which was one of her daughters died young. Granny had to go back several rooms in her mind to find her and recapture her memory (page 98-99). While she was drifting in and out of mindfulness, she found Hapsy and talked with her. Losing a child has to be the hardest thing a mother can go through. Later on John died, leaving Granny to raise the children. She kept the household running by cooking, cleaning, and sewing the clothes. She also tended to the land all by herself. She wished than she could see John and tell him that she did not do so badly with the children (page 97). Granny overcame several illnesses in her life and she did not want Doctor Harry to take care o...
Some of the literary elements that can be found in Porter’s stories, such as “Theft” and “The Martyr,” are characterization, conflict, and theme. The women in Porter’s stories reflected how life realistically was in the nineteenth century. It was hard for women to be independent because men would always do things for them and not listen to what they had to say. Almost all women wanted their own independence, but their fate was most likely made up by men’s controlling actions by trying to create women into whatever they wanted.
Ellen Weatherall from "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" suffers from a state of demension throughout the story. Her thoughts and memories grow tangled and confused with age, causing her to live in the dark. ""Here's Doctor Harry." "I won't see that boy again. He just left five minutes ago." "That was this morning, Mother. It's night now. . .""(779 -780). Ellen Weatherall's troubled mind can compare to the demented mind of Emily Grierson. Emily experienced a high status life, but that high status brought her down. Since Emily could never date or really experience a normal life, she surrounded herself with darkness and shut herself off from the world. Her mind slowly warped itself, clouding her morals and better judgment. Emily, like Ellen Weatherall, experienced mental trauma that tormented their thoughts. Ellen lost her child Hapsy and lost her fiance George, while Emily lost her father and eventually Homer Barron. While Ellen expressed her regrets during her mental turmoil, "There was the day, the day, but a whirl of dark smoke rose and covered it, crept up and over into the...
This is the moment when she realizes that she will not be admitted to Heaven and God has not come for her. As a result, she instantly thinks she will be going to hell. She feels that God is cruel and she will never forgive him for this. Granny is still holding onto things, even as she is fading away on her deathbed. She seems just as strong-willed and hardened moments from her death as she does when the story starts. As one critic writes, “Loosely based on Porter’s own grandmother, Granny Weatherall is tough and defiant, even in the face of death.”
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a short story written by Katherine Anne Porter in 1930. This short piece of literature depicts a story of the life of an old woman, fraught by the untimeliness and inevitability of aging, and the destruction, as well as constant degradation, of her age. The diminution of quality of life for an elderly person is evident through the protagonist’s age and ability, as well as the actions of herself and her companions. There are social, historical, and cultural characteristics exemplified in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” such as the role women played in society, the life of an elderly woman, respect of the elderly, and jilting. All of these aspects are utilized throughout the short story to aid readers in understanding the importance of a “jilting” in a young woman’s life during this time period, and to demonstrate the effects it can continue to leave through the remainder of her days.
An extreme act is almost necessary to bring about the true reflection on one’s life and really question whether or not they are worthy of salvation. The most influential person in determining your after life could have not the slightest meaning to you now. Flannery O’Connor’s writing reflects in her own beliefs. Kaplan creates a case that “The Grandmother’s ability to accept such a death is therefore the supreme test of her faith,” (Kaplan 905). This associates to the story well; Flannery O’Connor is also in her own life suffering from a disease that, in some aspects, should take her faith into inquiry.
She is a manipulator when it comes to any aspect of her life. Ideally, the grandmother was selfish and care about herself. For instance, when the author has her saying “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (O’Connor). The author let it be known at that second that the grandmother was only thinking about herself. As if she was traveling with a group of strangers. Throughout the story, the grandmother shows that she can be dishonest towards her family. “She woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (O’Conner). The grandmother did this to manipulate the situation causing the ride to be delayed. Thus, she was lying to the children about the secret panel in the house. Therefore, she caused chaos in the car. The author made it seem that the grandmother was very content with that she has caused. Even when she realized that the location of the house that she was referring to was not up that road at all. But she remained quiet or did she know this along. She was quick to judge and tell someone what not to do. But she never turned her eye on herself. That she was selfish and dishonest to her
The Grandmother is a bit of a traditionalist, and like a few of O’Connor’s characters is still living in “the old days” with outdated morals and beliefs, she truly believes the way she thinks and the things she says and does is the right and only way, when in reality that was not the case. She tends to make herself believe she is doing the right thing and being a good person when in actuality it can be quite the opposite. David Allen Cook says in hi...
In the short story” The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, it describes a women named Granny Weatherall who is on her death bed surrounded by her friends and family. As she is laying there she starts to recount the memories of her life and how those events have shaped her life. During her lifetime she describes the many times she was jilted, first by her husband o be and when she finally dies. She also speaks of the good memories that she has had with her children, her husband, and her father that she considers silly. She considers him silly because “Her father had lived to be one hundred and two years old and had a dunk noggin of strong hot toddy on his last birthday. He told the reporters it was his daily habit, and he
Jane presents one aspect of woman in The Waking collection (1953): Ross-Bryant views Jane as a young girl who is dead. The poem expresses concern with the coming of death. This poignant elegy is presen...