The ambiguities in Katherine Ann Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" have provided fertile ground for widely different interpretations (B. Laman). I agree with Laman's viewpoint of this novel, which states that Granny did actually receive a sign from God, just not exactly what she had intended. However, I also agree with Hoefel's feminist interpretation, stating that Granny's character was formed by the diminutive treatment of men in her life.
Granny demonstrated all her life that she is an independent and pragmatic woman, who does what needs to be done with or without a man. Mostly she appears better off without a man (Laman). Although George had the ability to pitch her soul into the deep pit of hell.I agree with Laman when she states Granny's last act contradicts her own theories that only by the submission to a man, and by being a mother, can a woman achieve happiness and health. Her attitude towards George sixty years later proves not only that she did not forget the jilting by George, but the she led a happy life, with a man and children.
Granny's one true and noticeable fault was not blowing out her own light, but asking for a sign from the wrong person. Although quite aware of the proper channels through which requests to God are to be made, she had after all a "secret comfortable understanding with a few favorite saints who cleared a straight road to God for her (The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 1686). On her deathbed she forgets the hierarchies and calls directly to God to give a sign.
B. Laman believes that Granny did actually receive a sign from God, but not what she imagined it to be. Laman believes that the only reason Granny failed to perceive Hapsey as the sign is that, through her Catholic upbringing, she was always led to expect something entirely different. I myself agree with Laman, and do believe that Hapsey was actually Granny's sign.
When Granny began to see Hapsey, with a baby on her hip, it is most likely that Granny was becoming senile and was having an out of body experience. Granny more than likely saw herself as Hapsey, and saw Hapsey as the baby. This interpretation makes most since because all the other viewpoints of this passage in the story are too complex and have no evidence whatsoever to back them up.
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 beginning years of Janie’s life, there were two people who she is dependent on. Her grandmother is Nanny, and her first husband is named Logan Killicks. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, “Janie, an attractive woman with long hair, born without benefit of clergy, is her heroine” (Forrest). Janie’s grandmother felt that Janie needs someone to depend on before she dies and Janie could no longer depend on her. In the beginning, Janie is very against the marriage. Nanny replied with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, its protection. ...He done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life” (Hurston 18). Nanny is sure to remind Janie that she needs a man in her life for safety, thus making Janie go through life with that thought process.
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.
... 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 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.
Faith is something that the author lacks as she only see 's herself as this defiant child. However, this changes as she realizes that she shares a special bond with her grandmother, rather than taking care of her for an obligation. In the very last scene, the author watches her grandmother as she slowly passes away and cries with “sobs emerging from the depths of anguish,” finally realizing that she actually had a very close relationship with her grandmother, developing a type of respect. The author had always felt her grandmother’s gray eyes watching over here, like a safety net, for every move she had made (Viramontes
Janie was raised by her grandmother whom she called Nanny; she never meets her mother or father. Janie and Nanny lived in the back of the Washburn’s house, which was a white...
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter features an elderly woman named Ellen Weatherall who faces her last moments alive recounting her memories and regrets. "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner introduces the reader to Emily Grierson, a gothic southern belle who lacks charm and dies somewhat alone. Both Ellen Weatherall and Emily Grierson share traits, but they also contrast from one another throughout their stories. Each author's stream of consciousness writing style invites the reader straight into the different minds of Weatherall and Grierson. Comparing and Contrasting the two women shows their unqiue traits and eccentric ways.
George shows extreme devotion and loyalty to Lennie by serving as Lennie’s “guardian angel”. Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara had passed away, George has been caring for Lennie, providing Lennie with daily essentials including food and companionship, trying to give Lennie a life filled with honest labor, despite Lennie’s disadvantage. Most people would view Lennie as a mentally-ill person, and some may even take advantage of him. Instead, George takes Lennie’s life into his own hands and protects Lennie by watching over him. After all, they are both interdependent with one another; they both need one another. Lennie cannot think for himself and therefore depends on George’s intelligence to make good choices for him, allowing him to survive. On the other hand, George is a small man and requires Le...
In life, people crave guidance. At some point, everyone needs a helping hand. Some people turn to one another, while other turn to great forces of power, such as God. Many people live accordingly to the rules of God, and in turn are directed in leading a better life. In the brilliant novel Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, Grandpa Blakeslee is such a person. Whenever Grandpa faces an obstacle, he turns to God.
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 beginning of the story the negative characteristics of the grandmother are revealed. She is portrayed as being a very egocentric person. The grandmother is very persistent about getting her way. She appears to be very insensitive of the feelings of the other family members. She consistently tries to persuade the family to go to Tennessee rather than to Florida. Also, she rebelliously took the cat with her on the trip when she knew the others would object. As a result of her selfishness the family had to make a detour to stop and see the house that she insisted upon visiting.
The grandmother; is not godly, prayerful, or trustworthy but she is a troublesome character. She raised her children without spirutuality, because she is not a believer, she is Godless.
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
Spirit : My Grandma, Mildred Johnson, is a true woman of faith. For as far back as I can remember, my Grandma has been a conveyor of the word of God in developing her family and living her daily life. Never would she miss a Sunday to share the word and love of God. As time moves forward not all of God’s children remain strong enough as before to lead his flock. Nor can all of God’s choir continue to sing quite as loudly as they always have. This is the time when the Lord takes them into his hands to rest their souls as he has now done with Mildred. Make no mistake, however, as the legacy of spirit that she has created in all of us will continue to live on.