Symbolism In The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

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

owed his ling life to that.” Her children care so deeply about her that they are considered hovering around her like balloons. Though Granny Weatherall isn’t ready to let go of her life yet, she still has some unfinished business that she has to settle. Granny Weatherall has had a very difficult life, full of hard times that have shaped her into a strong, independent woman that her family comes to love.
A key part that the story surrounds is self-pity. Because Granny Weatherall was jilted on her wedding day subconsciously she feels sorry for herself and throughout the rest of her life she holds onto the feelings she felt that day. She has also developed a fear that everyone is talking about her behind her back. . An example of this was when the doctor was speaking to Cornelia in the beginning of the story, outside of Granny’s room. And Granny says, “First off go away and don’t whisper!” It is clear that Granny is under the impression that they are talking poorly of her behind her back. Granny Weatherall also seems to hold on to despair and disillusionment most likely because she wasn’t able to live the life she really wanted for herself. At first Granny Weatheraall wasn’t ready to accept the fact that her days were numbered. This is shown when the doctor comes in and she says “I won’t see that boy again. He just left five minutes ago.” Another example of her denial is when Cornelia calls the priest into Granny’s room so she can talk to the priest and she completely refuses to speak to him.
Throughout the story Porter also uses imagery and symbolism to help the reader paint a picture in their mind of how dark the story is.

It’s hard to understand is the dark imagery is actually from her jilting, how the story revolves around death, or maybe from a deeper loss. In one of the lines in the story “Her bones felt loose, and floated around in her skin,” is symbolic because it shows that Granny is disconnecting from her body as her health is declining. She lying there in bed probably unwilling to accept the fact that her daughter and doctor and trying to tell her she is dying. As the story surrounds death, “Her eyes closed of themselves, it was dark curtain drawn around the bed. The pillow rose and floated under her, pleasant as a hammock in a light wind.” It is almost as if she wants to go finish her unfinished business, but can’t pull herself away from her bed. One of the symbolic meaning in the story is light and dark, meaning light was life and dark was the image of death. This was shown when, “her body was now only a deeper mass of shadow in an endless darkness and this darkness would curl around the light and swallow it up.” The jiltings during her life also had a huge impact on her and shaped her forever especially her last jilting. Her last jilting is during her final moments when God doesn’t give her a sign that she was looking forward to getting and she felt like she should have gotten it. “Again no bride groom and the priest in the house,” this was Granny’s most hurtful jilting. The fact that God didn’t show up and give her a sign left her with the feeling that she wasn’t worthy of being saved and this was considered the ultimate betrayal. The sadness that she felt during that moment is something she says, “she will never forgive

it.”
A message that you can take from the story is that we all go through one life with some difficult times that can influence the decisions that we make and the paths in life that we take. The irony in the story is that Granny Weatheral seems so independent and strong but in the end you see that she depends and needs God to tell her she is worthy of love and to be saved, but just like George she doesn’t receive that. It is clear that she believed that if she lived her life doing good things that it would guarantee that she would find love and salvation in death. Another lesson that you could take from the story, is that even though you might do good deeds they can only be really considered good if they were done for sincere motives and not the idea that they will help you get saved.