Preview

Katherine Anne Porter's the Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1281 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Katherine Anne Porter's the Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Katherine Anne Porter's The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" was written by Katherine Anne Porter and first published in 1930. The story is of a women named Granny Weatherall who is on her deathbed. As she is surrounded by friends and family she remembers the life she has lived. She describes being jilted many times in her life, first by her husband-to-be and finally by death. The story was eventually made into a movie directed by Randa Haines.

A major theme in the story is that of self-pity. As a result of Granny's wedding day jilting she feels sorry for herself throughout the rest of her life. She also has become suspicious of everyone. This is shown when the doctor is speaking to Cornelia in the beginning of the story, outside of Granny's room. Granny exclaims, "First off go away and don't whisper!" Granny was apparently under the impression that the two of them were speaking ill of her behind her back.

Another common theme in many of Katherine Anne Porter's stories, including "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall", is that of death. Porter was captivated by death and dreamed of having a custom made wooden coffin after she saw a photograph taken at the funeral of one of her friends. After Porter and her nephew searched New York City; Katherine found an ad for a coffin maker in Montana and placed her order. The coffin arrived but was obviously too large for her and the large colorful flowers were not at all what she expected but regardless Katherine had her wooden coffin. Even after receiving her coffin she and her nephew discussed arrangements on several occasions. First she wanted to be buried in the wooden coffin wrapped in a linen bed sheet. Later she decided that she wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in running water. Then she wanted her ashes buried next to her mother and by this time it seemed that the coffin was just a prop to amuse friends and reporters. These obsessions with her own death may be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout, the story we see the grandmother being manipulative, deceitful, and selfish. Aruther Breatha, the author of the article “O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find” even compares the grandmother morally and philosophically to the serial-killing Misfit (Breatha 246). The grandmother is seen being manipulative when she is trying to change her son Baily’s mind about going to Florida, so she can go to Tennessee. She is described as “seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind” (O’Connor 364). She even tries to make Baily feel bad about taking his children in the direction where a criminal is a loose (O’ Connor 364). She has no care, for what the family as a whole want to do, and is only concerned, with what she wants to do, and where she wants to go on vacation. When all her attempts to stop the family from going to Florida fail, she starts to become deceitful. The first of her deceitful action is bring the cat along even though Baily said not to so, then when the family is on the road the grandmother want to stop at an old plantation she used to visit as a child. Baily does not want to stop so she lies and tell the children that “There was a secret panel in this house” (O’Connor 368), and that it was filled with silver. This of course drives the children to bug, Baily, and the grandmother get what she wants. Once, the family turns down…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    <br>Janie's grandmother is old and weak. She never had a person in her life who cared for her and truly wanted to look out for her well-being. As a result, she is frightened by Janie's refusal to follow the mold, her refusal to marry for convenience instead of love. Janie's grandmother describes herself as "a cracked plate" [19], showing that not even she has confidence in her own ability to be strong and weather adversity. Janie learns a very important lesson from her grandmother. Not a lesson to emulate,…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unvanquished Essay

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Demonstrated through the quote is the theme that Granny will complete any sin in order to save or better her family but, always after she will always repent and as for forgiveness. Towards the end of the novel Granny travels to the church nearby to confess of her newly committed sins contrary to the beginning to the novel where she repented on her knee at home or a convenience to her and was then finished. With Granny’s new choice of confession, the congregation of the church is shocked and can’t comprehend her choice: “It was the first time they had seen anyone kneel in…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The grandmother lies to the kids about the secret panel. She gets them to whine and complain and finally the father agrees to go. Towards the end of the story O’Connor writes, “I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady” (938). Rather than her being worried about her family getting killed, all she is worried about is herself dying. She repeats this a couple times in the rest of the story begging for him to spare her life, not caring about if her family lives or not. A good woman would not worry just about herself. She would worry about the people she cares about…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    reflection on her life that was caused by deception in her every love relationship that ultimately…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bailey the grandmother’s son I would say is a “flat character. In the story his attitude never changes. He’s very quiet and gets pushed around by his mother. I would say that he gets taken advantage of because of this very reason. June Star, Bailey’s daughter and the granddaughter, isn’t very polite in the story. She’s very rude, mean spirited, and seems to be ill willed towards other people. Instead of her being sympathetic when the family got into an accident, she was disappointed that no one in the family was killed. John Wesley, Bailey’s dad and the grandson, is portrayed as a happy go lucky 8 year old boy. When the grandmother mentions going to see the house that she remembers, John seems very excited to be able to explore the secret panel. The Grandmother is characterized as rude and rather pushy with her views. Her son, Bailey, seems annoyed with the way that his mother acts. The reader’s perception of the Grandmother isn’t that great. She shows that she is a racist with her comment that she makes when she sees a little black kid. Her pushiness is what caused the family to get in the situation that they were in in the first place. The Grandmother shows no sympathy for other people. She is the worse out of the whole family.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Grandmother has an opinion on everything and feels that her way of doing things is the only way to do them. She chastises another character from the story, John Wesley, for what she thinks is inappropriate amount of respect for his home state. At any opportunity, she makes it her business to judge other people and remark at the lack of their goodness, without evidently having any of her own. She gives little attention to her own behavior, convinced that being a lady is the only virtue, and she, by dressing as one is the only lady and…

    • 2024 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine being hunted down and put on trial for something you didn't commit. There is…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Right from the beginning of the story, we are introduced to a powerful trait of the grandmother—her strong and manipulative character. She did not want to go to Florida, as her son Bailey has planned for the family. Instead she wanted to go to Tennessee to visit her old friends and “she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind” (356). She would use everything around her to complete her scheme and set things her way. She picks up a newspaper and shows him the news about a criminal on the loose from the Federal Penitentiary who is headed towards Florida, and attacks his conscience and morals by saying, ”I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did”…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The grandmother is a racist and cold-hearted person. She is one that does not care whether she hurts anyone's feelings or not. The grandmother's attitude towards other races is very noticeable in the story. She thinks just like that of white Southerners that was back in the "old days" when there was segregation and all going on in the United States. During the time, the story was taken place there…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Betye Sarr, Michael Ray Charles, Kerry James Marshal, and Kara Walker are all artists who use race and stereotypes as subjects for their art. Although they tend to use similar subjects for their pieces, they have very different techniques, mediums, and forms. Betye Saar uses an art form called assemblage. Assemblage is similar to a collage, but it is three-dimensional. One of her most famous pieces, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, depicts a “mammy” doll holding a shotgun and broom. Behind the doll are syrup labels with Aunt Jemima on them. Michael Ray Charles does colorful paintings of black caricatures. His art has a vintage, distressed look. His pieces Sambo, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Jemima are some of his black caricatures which depict a satirical…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two protagonists from “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and “Miss Brill” have different lives, but still share similarities within their personality and the way they view life and themselves. Granny Weatherall lives an eventful life, unlike Miss Brill who has set a routine. However, both of this characters have a hard time letting go of the past, are easily upset when they are not in control and consequently, they each have developed their own mechanism to protect themselves from emotional pain.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Katherine Anne Porter

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Katherine Anne Porter is one of the most celebrated authors in American Literature, she is mostly known for her collection of short stories, often about themes regarding justice, betrayal, and the unforgiving nature of the human race. Throughout her life the many things that influenced her views and morals also helped shape the way she writes and the messages in her stories. Porter experienced a variety of cultures, from the Southern farm culture to the posh Paris life. She first handily experienced the Mexican cultural revolution, seen the rise of Nazism and lived through the time of the cold war. These travels and experiences from different cultures gave her a diverse pool of inspiration that influences her works and her writing style.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," there are two themes. The first is self-pity. The second theme is the acceptance of her death. Both deal with the way people perceive their deaths and mortality in general. Granny Weatherall's behavior is Porter's tool for making these themes visible to the reader. The theme of self-pity is obvious and thoroughly explored early on. As a young lady, Granny Weatherall was left at the altar on her wedding day. As a result, the pathetic woman feels sorry for herself for the rest of her life. She becomes a bitter old woman who is suspicious of everyone around her. This point is shown early in the story when the do Granny Weatherall, the main character in Katherine Anne Porter's The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, is an 80-year-old elderly woman who is at the doorstep of death. There is a sense of disillusionment with Granny that leads readers to develop their own interpretation of her relationship with Cornelia, her daughter As the narrator, Granny unknowingly would paint the picture of Cornelia as nuisance and bothersome. In fact, the reader can rationalize that it is just Cornelia's concern for an ailing mother that…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ellen Weatherall, or better known as Granny Weatherall, was an eighty year old woman who was waiting death. While waiting in her bed in her room, with a beautiful view outside her window, she recalls the different events in her life that defined her character. Of the many things she recalled, her broken heart was the worst for her, as it impacted the person she was. Granny was a respectable woman that demanded respect, and would stop someone in their track to ensure that she received it. Granny Weatherall was a Southern lady, who was well organized, hard working, and demonstates the path of her curvy road ,which included sorrow and happiness. Theses different events are the reason that Granny is who she is, inside and out.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics