Symbols In Granny Weatherall's The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall reminds us of the plight of many women who wait for life to claim them, rather than seek life out for themselves. In her final moments she moves from lucid consciousness to confused semiconsciousness where she is tormented by her memories of her long lost love, her dead daughter and her impending death.
As Granny Weatherall reviews her life by remembering the important happenings, disappointments, crises, and achievements, she is tended to by her daughter Cornelia and the Doctor Harry. Bedridden, Granny is in denial of her situation and dependance on her caretakers, telling the doctor “Get along now, take your schoolbooks and go. There’s nothing wrong with me”. Her mind fluctuates in and out of awareness and this can be witnessed in the line, “Her bones felt loose, and floated around in her skin”. This is symbolic of Granny’s disconnection to her failing body. She is lying there unaware of or simply unwilling to acknowledge what her daughter, Cornelia, and the young doctor are telling her−she’s dying. Granny believes she went to bed to be rid of Cornelia and her carrying on; she always believes herself to be in control even at the very end.
Granny was a hardworking woman with strength gained by the people she felt jilted by.
Life forced her to take on many roles: farmer, doctor, veterinarian, and most importantly, a mother who has raised her children courageously. She recalls the many nights caring for sick children and animals. She had to fence in acres of land and act as a midwife and nurse. She remembers lighting the lamps when her children were young. Granny was married to a man named John, but her strength was again tested when he died at a young age, leaving her to raise their chi...

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...ed to confront the deep pain that she has carried in her heart; she must give an account of her life as she comes closer to the shadow of death.
Anne Porter's story shows us the dynamics in a woman's life when she abandons her dreams and substitute them for being a work horse. A vibrant young woman's folly turns into the bitterness of an old woman still holding a grudge over the man her left her and those who died on her. What is she left with after all of these years of sacrifice? Such a snapshot of a woman's life give us pause to wonder about the meaning of our lives as we determine what is important. Are we to become the work horse grannies or the dutiful daughter called Cornelia who is ever faithful but unappreciated. Porter's story causes us to reflect upon this, pausing to think twice about life. Unfortunately for Granny, just as life was hard so was death.