reflection essay

Patel 2

Nimit Patel

Professor Randall

English 1102

24 January 2018

Reflection on the Theme of Denial in Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”

Denial refers to refusing to accept a reality. Most people have at a time refused to accept the truth due to different circumstances. For instance, some persons deny they are sick despite their bodies indicating they are unwell. Denial can have positive and negative effects on people’s lives. It can make people continue working hard in life when the chances of succeeding are minimal. Also, it can make an individual to have a positive attitude towards life despite the troubles that he or she is facing. The view is supported in Katherine Porter’s story The Jilting of Granny Weatherall where Granny Weatherall is in deep denial regarding the basic truths surrounding her life.

When Porter writes “Don’t tell me what I’m going to be. I’m on my feet now, morally speaking,” she is suggesting that Granny Weatherall is denying the fact that she is sick. She is telling Doctor Harry to stop wasting his time on a person that is well. Weatherall does not want to accept that she is unwell despite her eyes closing on their own and struggling to wave good-bye. She believes that accepting her condition might deny her the morale to continue fighting for her life.

When Granny says, “She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again,” she implies that Granny Weatherall knew that her time on earth was up. She had spent a lot of time thinking about death and yet she refuses to accept it. She denies that she is sick to convince herself that she would not die. The condition makes her unable to realize that her confusion is due to her sickness and not the persons around.

Granny Weatherall also denies the fact that she still thought about her ex-lover George. When Porter writes, “All those letters – George’s letters and John’s letters and her letters to them both – lying around for the children to find afterwards made her uneasy,” she implies that Weatherall never recovered after being heartbroken by George despite claiming that she had a good life with John. The fact that she still has George’s letters tells readers that she still thinks about him. If she did not care about him, he would have disposed the letters many years ago. The denial makes her not to pay much attention to him, thus focus on the lovely life she had with John.

Katherine Ann Porter’s story The Jilting of Granny Weatherall explores the theme of denial in people’s lives. In the story, Granny Weatherall denies that she is sick despite her body being weak. She refuses to accept death despite having spent a lot of time thinking about it. Additionally, she fails to accept that she has never gotten over her ex-lover George and yet she has his letters. These denials make her stronger, thus able to continue fighting for her life despite her weak physical condition and age.