Discuss the theme of Aunt Granny Lith using the topic of Lilith - Research Paper Example

Lilith in Aunt Granny Lith Aunt Granny Lith is a modern folktale that has been developed under different kind of themes. The short story begins with an introduction into a fight between two women, Lil, and Beth. It is not clear at first what the fight is all about until the story of Beth and her husband Casey is strategically unfolded by the narrator. Lil is the nearest neighbor to Beth and her husband Casey. Casey is in Lil’s house drunk and Beth goes for him, a fight erupts between the two which Beth wins and is able to carry her husband home, first in their pick-up before it gets stuck into the creek, and later walks home to get a mule and take him home.

The story then takes us back more than 20 tears when Beth and Casey married. Beth was the third wife of Casey, and the first two having died under mysterious circumstances. Their deaths are hereafter attributed to the work of an old granny, Lith who Casey supposedly proposed to long before he married the first wife. Although in a rare joke, the granny is likely to have taken the proposal seriously and just like the Lilith in the mythical biblical story of Adam, the old woman was ready to ensure that he got married to the man who proposed and that no other woman was to come close (Schwartz, 93).

The theme, Lilith augurs well with the story, “Aunt Granny Lith” in a number of ways. First, the first two wives of Casey died out of the jealous of a woman who Casey proposed to. Their deaths are a manifestation that the old ready, as in the myth was not ready to share a husband with another woman. It is out of this fear that Casey even carry a gun and a knife with him. Having revealed the story to Beth, Beth’s mother Nomey uses her knowledge on the old lady and advises the young couple on low to avoid the wrath.

The bravery of Beth, as that of Eve in the Lilith myth is seen when she follows her mother’s advice, and even convinces Casey to do the same and at the end the two get rid of the danger and the fear.The victory of human over the forces of evil is also seen in the symbolism of Lil. Besides the name being significantly symbolic of the same force that was with the old woman and Lilith in the myth. After Beth’s marriage, the woman appears to Beth “….saw someone scurry into the woods…. trailed the person to the head of the hollow” (Offutt, 136).

The fight that results over Casey is an indication of the evil that has to be overcome by Beth and her husband to live safely. However, in this case, Beth effectively protects her marriage and does not need any help from her mother as she did before. Her bravery is seen in this case too, she even walks in the night to get a mule and carry her husband home and away from the evil woman.The victory over the evil in this story is clearly in line with the theme, Lilith (Witcombe). When Adam was unable to get Lilith back, he got Eve but Lilith promised always to destroy the children of Adam.

However, the myth has it that the bravery of Eve conquered and neutralized the effects of the demonic powers although after a long time.Works citedOffutt, Chris. Kentucky Straight. NY: Vintage Books, 1992. Print.Schwartz, Howard. Liliths Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print.Witcombe, Christopher. Eve and Identity of Women. http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/7evelilith.html