The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

from MVNU

By

Katherine Anne Porter

(1890-1980)

Katherine Anne Porterhttp://www.famoustexans.com/katherineanneporter.htm

• Born in Texas• Started writing

stories as a child• Regarded as a

superb short story writer

• Praised for her psychological insight

Katherine Anne Porter

• Often based stories on her own experience

• Portrayed strong women whose idealism is challenged by life’s hardships

• Won Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

Katherine Anne Porter

“ For this vocation [writing] I was and am willing to live and die, and I consider very few other things of the slightest importance.”

My whole attempt has been to discover and understand human motives, human feeling, to make a distillation of what human relations and experiences my mind has been able to absorb. I have never known an uninteresting human being, and I have never known two alike; there are broad classifications and deep similarities, but I am

interested in the thumbprint (K. A. Porter).

Conflicts in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

• Person vs. self– Granny tries to forget George

• Person vs. person– The jilting by George– Granny against Cornelia and Doctor Harry

• Person vs. God– The second jilting at death

• Person vs. environment– The fence posts– Granny against life

• The plot does not move sequentially because of the stream of consciousness style.

• The events of her life, when sorted out, happen in this order:– Granny’s first jilting at age 20– Birth of Hapsy, milk-leg, and double pneumonia at age 40– Farewells and fever at age 60– Real death at age 80

• Granny’s Death– She fails to see “a sign”– Feels she has been jilted a 2nd time– Loses faith in her religion– Dies without God

Movement of Plot

• Natural and man-made– Granny’s own house and yard are the setting

in her flashbacks.– Heaven and Hell were there for her.

• Cornelia’s house– She dies here, but she keeps confusing it with

her own house.

Granny Weatherall– “On [her] feet…morally speaking”

– Strong willed

– Hard-working

– Raised large family alone

– Cared for livestock

– Cared for sick

– Worked for church

– Kept letters to and from George

– Has suffered—“Something not given back”

• Protagonist = Granny Weatherall

• Antagonists = Life and Death

• Granny = developing character

Jolting Epiphanies

Main Events in Her Life:

1. At 20, jilted

2. At 40, bore last child

3. At 60, prepared to die

4. At 80, loses faith

Significance of events:• Lead her to redefine her life and faith

Other Characters

• The children—– Like calves in the lamplight– Dutiful (Cornelia)

• Doctor Harry– young– Stock character

• The Priest – present at both jiltings

• Hapsy– Last born child– Favorite– Not living– Died in childbirth?

• Title– Provides clues to the theme

• Focus is on Granny• Her name is a play on words

Pt. of View is a combination of limited omniscient and interior monologue– Look for evidence of each type

• Stream-of-consciousness– The confusion in the plot reflects her

mental state

• Name symbolism– “weathered all”

• Images of light, fog, and darkness – The children in the lamplight– The ending pinpoint of light– Others?

• Religious symbols– Rosary– Crucifix– Hapsy with child = Madonna and child

• Other symbols?

• Granny was able to weather all except death

• Denial can only serve to control for so long. In the end there can be no denial

• Life is beautiful and hard

• Death is harder

• Who can really prepare for death?