english II essay 2

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Cassandra Brown

Randall

English 1102

23 January 2017

“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter

“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter was an intentionally confusing short story. Porter wanted the audience to consider what death would be like and how they would die. She uses a confusing amount of flashbacks and stream of consciousness to capture the hopeless and confusing feeling of death. To complete the effect, Porter parallels death to being jilted at the altar.

The short story starts with Doctor Harry examining Granny Weatherall, and, due to her old age, he treats her condescendingly by saying “now, now, be a good girl, and we’ll have you up in no time” (para.5). This is the first time Granny Weatherall is jilted in the story because she is jilted her respect. This beginning scene in considered the beginning of the end for Granny Weatherall because after this scene the audience sees her mental state begin to decline. This decline is made clear through jumps in stream of consciousness and muddled transitions between flashbacks and current events.

The second time Granny Weatherall is jilted, which takes place in a flashback, is by her fiancé. This scene captures her helpless feeling about death and the possibility of hell because she thinks “What does a woman do when she has put on a white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn’t come?” (para.103). Her fiancé is being compared to God and she is afraid that God will also leave her and she will go to hell. She has pushed this unpleasant memory out of her mind for many years but in the face of death all of these memories come rushing back to haunt her.

The third time Granny Weatherall is jilted is at the very end of the story when God refuses to “give a sign.” Porter foreshadowed this happening to Granny Weatherall’s through her second jilting, and ties the two events together by saying that there was “no bridegroom and the priest in the house” (para. 155). This final scene is meant to make the audience contemplate their own deaths and the audience is left to draw their own conclusion after Granny Weatherall “stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light.”

Overall, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” makes the audience experience Granny Weatherall’s death with her. Porter achieves a feeling of confusion and hopelessness through stream of consciousness and not having clear transitions between flashbacks and current events. Porter makes the audience wonder what they will think about on their deathbeds and what memories will haunt them. Will they be jilted in the end too?