The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall Character Analysis

Two more pertinent points are made by the author, in regards to the grandmother, follow in quick succession; both allude to further yet-to-be seen gloom within the story. O’Connor writes of the grandmother “[s]he didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself” (1043) and of the way she is dressed “[i]n case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (1043). These two observations are innocent enough on the surface but provide true intent on the foreshadowing that O’Connor uses throughout the story. It is these two devices, irony and foreshadowing, that I feel are prominent and important aspects of the story and are evidenced in my quest to decipher this story.

Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" depicts the story of a dying woman's life. Throughout her eighty years of life Mrs. Weatherall has had her fair share of disappointments, heartaches, and unfavorable outcomes. This short story is written in a manner that allows the reader to get an outside view looking in; similar to looking at the story through a window as if being acted out in front of you in the theater. The story is eloquently written and leaves the reader with a sense of familiarity towards the family. The populations of readers who have had the pleasure of experiencing this pathetic story have come to relate their own experiences and disappointments towards the story and have empathetic feelings towards the main

A character is someone portrayed in a novel, play, or movie that represents an person. An author can create characters in many ways to show the emotional, mental, and physical characteristics of that individual. An author has an infinite amount of choices of how he or she can construct characters. Zadie Smith does just that in “The Girl with Bangs.” In “The Girl with Bangs,” Smith represents the narrator as a normal college student that falls in love with a girl, named Charlotte because of her bangs. This representation sets up a series of conflict when Charlotte’s boyfriend, Maurice, moves and Charlotte hooks up with the narrator. Maurice then moves back months later to find out that she has cheated on him with the narrator and another unknown male. The narrator later finds out that Charlotte has cheated on her with the unknown guy and then was going to choose Maurice over her, which causes a small fight about who should actually have her. This gets resolved when she shaves her head in spite of all three men. Maurice is the only one who still wants her. The narrator has clear motivation about why she wants Charlotte, she is a dynamic character, and she is a round character.

Not everyone’s life is filled with happiness. Granny Weatherall, in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Anne Porter, and Addie Bundren, in “from As I Lay Dying ‘Darl’,” by William Faulkner, are two dying poor women who recall their lives in their minds when they are laying in beds. Their tough and harsh lives are similar in several ways. Granny Weatherall and Addie Bundren both had two men in their life. Granny loves her husband, John, and George.

In the short stories A Worn Path by Eudora Welty and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter, both women overcame several obstacles. In A Worn Path, Phoenix Jackson faced obstacles such as her age, physical challenges, and how others viewed her. Granny faced obstacles such as dying, feeling betrayed by her children, and disappointment in her love life.

No, no, the husbands were quick to answer and even quicker to do their duty” (Walker, 1970). This example illustrates the time frame from which this story was written. The author also describes the weather as being not much above zero outside, so this story takes place during the cold winter months. After being thrown out of the church the setting shifts to the highway. “When they passed her house, forlourn and sagging, weather-beaten and patched, by the side of the road, she did not even notice it, she was so happy to be out walking along the highway with Jesus, she broke the silence once more to tell Jesus how glad she was that he had come, how she had often looked at his picture hanging on her wall (she hoped he didn’t know she had stolen it) over her bed, and how she had never expected to see him down here in person” (Walker, 1970).

As a dying person, Granny Weatherall is losing her powers of deliberate control over events, which she has evidently learned to master along with the various disappointments that life has dealt her but is also subject to a number of intense anxieties. "While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar. She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again." In a semi-conscious state the feisty and irritable Granny reviews her life by remembering the important happenings, disappointments, crises, achievements, and feelings.

The tone of this story seems to portray Granny’s bitterness, which is seen during a part of her consciousness when she hears her daughter and the doctor whispering, “Wait, wait, Cornelia,

The following passage is an excerpt from Katherine Anne Porter’s short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how such choices as figurative language, imagery, and dialogue develop the complex emotions the character is feeling.

The short stories, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Catherine Anne Porter and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, have many similarities as well as differences. Both stories have a simple plot with a theme that is symbolic of their lives. These stories include great characterization, description of elements in the stories, and the point of view.

First we will take a look at grandmother. She is made to look like the saint in this story. Her, in contrast to the rest, is the good person, always looking out for the best of others. She is not going on vacation, she is going to visit her "connections" in Tennessee. While

The Grandmother identifies herself as having the best values. She completely overdresses for the trip in a "navy straw hat and collars and cuffs, so that if there was an accident, people would know she was a lady" (368). The narrator points out that she looks down upon other people as well. In the beginning of the story, she criticizes the mother for "not taking the children to different parts of the world and being broad" (367), and tells John Wesley that he "should be more respectful of his native state and his parents" (368). Despite being so judgmental, the Grandmother never criticizes her own dishonesty, hypocrisy, and selfishness. When she criticizes John Wesley about the state, she calls a little black boy "a cute pickaninny" (368) in the same sentence. She later says that little black kids do not have things like they do and that "if she could paint, she would paint that picture" (368). The Grandmother paints this picture later with a romantic story of the good old days on the Southern plantations. Her definition of a good man is even flawed. The narrator says she would have married Edgar Teagarden because "he was a gentleman who bought Coca-Cola stock, making him a rich man" (369). In the end, when the Misfit is killing her family members one by one, she tells him to pray for himself. But she never once prays for her own family or begs the Misfit to spare them. She is even dramatic when she pulls a handkerchief out to fan herself and tells the Misfit "you wouldn't kill a lady would you" (373), effectively trying to save herself instead of her family.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, a short story written by Katherine Ann Porter in 1930, describes an eighty-year-old Ellen Weatherall, nicknamed “Granny”, during her last day alive. While the story takes place in her bedroom, most of the action takes place within her head. Nearing death, Granny Weatherall reminisces on important events in her life, especially her jilting that took place sixty years ago when her then fiancé, George, left her at the altar. Although she carried on with her life, remarrying, having four children, and living to an old age, she never let go of this memory; the loss of George continued to have an effect on her. At the end of the story, Granny asks God for a sign, and when she does not get on, she feels that God has jilted her as well. With that final feeling, she dies.

Bragg’s mother wants what is best for her children. Bragg states in his book, “I did not know then, like I know now, that my mamma never ate until we were done” (41). His mother makes sure that her children have food even if that means she does not get any. He continues on to say, “But I can still see her sliding the bones off plates and gnawing them clean, after we were done” (41). His mother would eat the very little bit that was left over after her children. Bragg’s mother does the best she can to provide for her children. Bragg makes a statement on page 41, “She did what she could to support us with her own work, her own sweat, but sometimes it was just too hard. I know it killed her deep inside to go begging, but it would have destroyed her to watch her three sons do without”. The Widow in the Bible is just like Bragg’s mother. She gives everything she has. The Bible does not say specifically about the Widow having any children, but it can be assumed that she has children as well as a husband that is either dead or is in and out like Bragg’s father. Yet, she still gives all she has, “And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites” (Mark 12:41-44). Even though these ladies do not have much they both do their best with what little they

The Grandmother wants the Misfit to receive salvation from God, so that he can be forgiven for his sins. Even though the Grandmother got the family into this mess, she can still be viewed as the hero.