Katherine Anne Porter's The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall
The last paragraph of Katherine Anne Porter's “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” presents an elderly woman's journey to her moment of death. In what she hoped would be a time of tranquility, changed to a time of grief and anger. Being the impatient woman she is, Granny swore that she would never forgive God for dragging her along, and then she “blew out the light” (Porter 83). The short story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” interprets the parting condition of Granny’s soul to be the consequence of her conceited attempts to save herself through systems and patterns of religious practices.
Granny lives a life of black and white, where she believes that “cleanliness--as well as orderliness--was (is) next to godliness” (French 64). She …show more content…
It is easy to tell that Granny is physically deteriorating, which is believable at her age. But, it is apparent that Granny is also struggling spiritually. Although she says that, “she had her secret comfortable understanding with a few favorite saints who cleared a straight road to God for her,” it is evident that she is still in conflict with the bitterness of being jilted, and the unexpected death of her husband (Porter 81). One can even go as far to say, that the “main concern of her adult life has been to heal her broken heart” (French 63). Her greatest concern was to forget George and to prove to John that she could raise the children and manage the household without him. This caused her to become an “expert in living on track,” even after she felt that she had derailed for a time (French 65). It is important to note, that a woman who is so obsessed with orderliness “has not yet thrown out George's sixty-year-old love letters” (French 76). These letters symbolize that George is fixed into Granny’s mind, and even after all these years of compulsive orderliness she cannot “clean him out” (French
Granny lives a life of black and white, where she believes that “cleanliness--as well as orderliness--was (is) next to godliness” (French 64). She …show more content…
It is easy to tell that Granny is physically deteriorating, which is believable at her age. But, it is apparent that Granny is also struggling spiritually. Although she says that, “she had her secret comfortable understanding with a few favorite saints who cleared a straight road to God for her,” it is evident that she is still in conflict with the bitterness of being jilted, and the unexpected death of her husband (Porter 81). One can even go as far to say, that the “main concern of her adult life has been to heal her broken heart” (French 63). Her greatest concern was to forget George and to prove to John that she could raise the children and manage the household without him. This caused her to become an “expert in living on track,” even after she felt that she had derailed for a time (French 65). It is important to note, that a woman who is so obsessed with orderliness “has not yet thrown out George's sixty-year-old love letters” (French 76). These letters symbolize that George is fixed into Granny’s mind, and even after all these years of compulsive orderliness she cannot “clean him out” (French