In Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" an old woman's light is slowly fading out and memories from her past are phasing in and out of her head as she lives out her final moments. The times she was "jilted" are pouring out of her memories, releasing themselves and allowing her the peaceful death she so desires. She has good memories: memories of her children, memories of her husband, and memories of her silly father: "Her father had lived to be one hundred and two years old and had drunk a noggin of strong hot toddy on his last birthday. He told the reporters it was his daily habit, and he owed his long life to that" (Porter 2). But it is the bad memories she's letting go of, the memories of her many "jiltings". Her children surround her as she dies, floating about like balloons above her. But she doesn't want to go yet she has so much she still wants to do. Granny Weatherall had been through a difficult life, full of hardships that shaped her into a strong, fiercely independent woman. Because she had lived past sixty and was now eighty, she had "[gotten] over the idea of dying [long ago]" (2). She wanted to live to be one hundred and two like her father and play jokes on the reporters. Besides, there was "always so much to be done" (1); why go now when she has so much to offer her children and grandchildren?
Her children are her happiest memory: "Granny wished the old days were back again and the children young and everything to be done over" (2). Despite going through such hardships in raising her children, she wished to do it again; suggesting that despite her many injustices she did eventually find love, peace, and reason within her life. It had been difficult "but not too hard for her" (3)....
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... her children, and gave people hope to see through the darkness. The theme truly is "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger". Granny is humanity. Humanity's need to give reason and purpose to life sets us up for disappointment. It is human nature to expect, whether good or bad, there is reason for our existence that someone will always be there to save us, especially in something as final as death. Granny surely believed her "jiltings" would be corrected upon her death because of her religious beliefs. But even in death, life tries to break you, and even in death you can find strength, the strength to blow out your own candle.
And, just as life is devoid of reason, death is no exception.
Works Cited
Porter, Katherine Anne. "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall." Flowering Judas and other Stories. New York : Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1958 180-187
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
Engel, Mary Ella. “The Appalachian “Granny”: Testing the Boundaries of Female Power in Late-19th-Century Appalachian Georgia.” Appalachian Journal 37.3/4 (2010): 210-225 Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
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.
Porter, Katherine Anne. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2000.
... mold of a traditional woman throughout her entire life. She set new standards for women regarding relationships. She dared to get divorces, to leave an abusive man, to leave a cheating man, to have a lover, even to marry a much younger man, but more importantly she dared to write about these controversial topics. Readers may get a sense of Granny's bitterness toward men, but they cannot ignore her strength and independence. Porter was a part of the "era of exuberance" because she played her role in the evolution of women. The answer to the question posed at the beginning of this paper is the same question women of the early twentieth century began asking themselves. This question became a choice for them. Porter chose to be strong because of her ability to move on, and by the time she became Granny Weatherall she knew she had achieved what she had set out to do.
In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” the story is read in a lighter fashion. It involves the main character, Granny Weatherall, and her triumph through time and love. Granny fights for love and strength for her kids, despite being “jilted” by George at the alter and the issues and pains that come with that memory. Although Granny married, and had children, she never seemed to live up to the fact of her being “jilted” by George. Death is an idea that both stories start, and end with.
Janie's Grandmother is the first bud on her tree. She raised Janie since she was a little girl. Her grandmother is in some respects a gardener pruning and shaping the future for her granddaughter. She tries to instill a strong belief in marriage. To her marriage is the only way that Janie will survive in life. What Nanny does not realize is that Janie has the potential to make her own path in the walk of life. This blinds nanny, because she is a victim of the horrible effects of slavery. She really tries to convey to Janie that she has her own voice but she forces her into a position where that voice is silenced and there for condemning all hopes of her Granddaughter become the woman that she is capable of being.
Having read "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter once before, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the short story. With more understanding of the story now, it is much easier to consider the how Granny's actions are acceptable rather than rash at times. Granny's character is one where everyone can relate to because each one of us manages to feel sorry for her through the problems she must face along her long road to death. I also found myself wanting her to get to see George one more time, because she loved him so much.
In the short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin both authors make a strong connection between lightness and darkness as symbols throughout the story. Dark and Light can represent two opposing forces, whether good and evil or love and hate. In both stories light is used to show calmness and positive elements while darkness is used to show personal problems and negative elements. In “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator discovers his brother getting arrested for selling and using heroin. The lightness and darkness in this story is used to show the transition from Sonny’s childhood to his adulthood. In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” the lightness and darkness is used to show the stages in Granny’s life. Both authors use these symbols as transitions in the characters life.
“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.
In The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, Catherine Ann Porter shares the story of an eighty year old woman who has lived a long life filled with personal triumphs and tragedies. Having been left at the altar by the love of her life at a young age, Ellen “Granny” Weatherall, whose name appropriately represents her character, learned to put up walls of protection around herself and her family early in life lest she fall to the same hurt once again. These protective measures and the mindset that seems to come along with said measures contribute to Granny’s bold and abrasive personality which is displayed quite often throughout the story. Granny prided herself in her ability to maintain her home and family without the aid of a man, having been voluntarily left by one man and having the other taken by death at an early age. One finds, however, that Granny was “given back everything he [George] took and more” (Porter, 86) through her second husband, children, and home.
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...
For the most part of the poem she states how she believes that it is Gods calling, [Then ta’en away unto eternity] but in other parts of the poem she eludes to the fact that she feels more like her granddaughter was stolen from her [or sigh thy days so soon were terminate]. One of the main beliefs in these times was that when someone died it was their time; God needed them and had a better plan. Both poets found peace in the idea that God had the children now and it was part of the plan, but are also deeply saddened and used poetry as a coping mechanism.
While people physically isolated him because of his elevated status, other issues that were ultimately the cause of a tragic situation also internally isolate him. In Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Richard Cory, Robinson writes, "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head." (Robinson). Though Cory had been isolated both by himself and others, no one knows the effect of this isolation until it is too late. This is an example of how when people are isolated by others, they oftentimes isolate themselves. This can also be seen Katherine Anne Porter’s The Jilting of Granny Weatherall. Porter writes, "Get along and doctor your sick,” said Granny Weatherall. “Leave a well woman alone. I’ll call for you when I want you. Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia? You weren’t even born.” (Porter). This shows how Granny Weatherall further isolated herself because she had been isolated all her life. Both Cory and Granny Weatherall isolated themselves from society and were therefore unable to build a healthy relationship with others in their time of
...Prevention. "Physician-Assisted Suicide Should Not Be Legalized." Opposing Viewpoints: Problems of Death. Ed. James D. Torr and Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Harford Technical High School - MD. 15 Mar. 2010 .