Katherine Anne Porter's, The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall
The main purpose of the short story "The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter is to show different aspects of a life of old people. The story also touches on the theme of morality, death and dying. The main character of the story is a sick old lady who does not want to consider herself as old. The story begins with a scene where the lady lays on her bed surrounding with the care of her daughter Cornelia and her doctor:“She flicked her wrist neatly out of Doctor Harry’s pudgy careful fingers and pulled the sheet up to her chin. The brat ought to be in knee breeches. Doctoring around the country with spectacles on his nose! “Get along now, take your schoolbooks and go. There’s nothing wrong with me,”(Porter, 4). This very first paragraph of the story helps to understand the personality of the Granny. The character of Granny plays the main role in driving the plot. The author fills the story with details of Granny’s life in order to help the reader better understand her thoughts and state of mind (French, 1995). When the Granny starts memorizing her wedding day when she was left by her groom, it becomes evident why Granny is so independent and refuses to accept her helplessness and aging. Despite the fact that Granny realizes the imminence of death, she makes plans for the future (Bloom, 2009). That is because Granny think of her as the only person who is responsible for managing the house, her children and herself. The usefulness of the denial of the coming death makes Granny use humor. However, much of the humor used in the story is tinged with sadness. The sadness highlight that despite the denial of death Granny understands that it will definitely happen. However, she does not want her children to see her said, helpless and dying and she tries to be strong till the end of her life by hiding the pain behind humor. Moreover, Granny is unable to articulate her thought clearly because she can not find the right words to express it. For example, she expresses anger in the following way:
“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. Here’s the nurse.”
“This is Doctor Harry, Mrs. Weatherall. I never saw you look so young and happy!”
“Ah, I’ll never be young again—but I’d be happy if they’d let me lie in peace and get rested,” (Porter, 170).
The personality of Granny in the story is supported by setting. When it comes to the setting the only information provided is the description of the room where all the actions take place. During the duration of the story, Granny is in her bed. This headlines that she is really sick. However, there is another setting - the mind of Granny. When the Granny closes her eyes the reader is immersed into an absolutely different …
