The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter - Book Report/Review Example

Title The usefulness of denial is the core theme that explains the story of Granny Weatherall. Granny constantly denied the basic truths regarding her character and life. We find her reluctant to believe that she is dying. She refused to accept that she didn’t for over the one who jilted her at the altar. In the beginning of the story we find her insisting that it is not advisable for Doctor Harry to attend one who is not really sick. As the story progresses we find Granny telling herself that her life with John was happy and good that she has fully forgotten George. Her fixation on George reveals that she could not forget him completely. However she refused to accept this fact. Granny never recognizes that she mistreat Cornelia. She also never agrees that she regrets over certain things of her life. Granny did not admit that her confusion and troubles are the result of her illness and the people with her were not responsible for it. Granny’s nature of denying the reality was her frailty as well as necessity. She never attains self-knowledge. Till her death she never understands herself. She was ignorant about herself. She doesn’t know how she lived her life. Granny’s character of denial brought troubles to everyone around her. Her children must have many troubles from her. Granny refuses to accept that she had been so hard on her children. They could never hear any apology from her. Granny never acknowledged her failure. However, this attitude of Granny was helpful for her. Her hard-hearted nature and refusal to accept realities made her continue her life. She lived her life fully, bringing up healthy children. Her attitude even saved the life of sick ones and animals. Granny was not a narrow-minded person by nature. If she had attempted a self-analysis she would have fallen into despair. She rather refused the fact that she is in persistent pain. She never accepted that she is permanently broken-hearted. Her nature of denying facts helped her continue her life. Yet another major theme in the short story is self-pity. Because of the jilting Granny suffered on her wedding day, she felt sorry for herself, throughout her life. The bitter experience made her suspicious of everybody. In the beginning of the story we find the doctor talking to Cornelia. Granny was irritated by that and wanted them to go away. Granny thought that both of them were speaking about her. In the short story we often find the fear of wasting food. Granny’s fear of wasting food indicates her fear of wasting life. We find her constantly advising somebody that fruits should not be wasted and it should be fully picked. Granny appears to be advising her children. It echoes as an advice for the readers. Every now and then she warns people about wasting food. She hated losing things. Because of her careful spending she could support her family with little money. She made good use of all resources she had. All these show’s Granny’s worries about wasting life. She was bothered that she had wasted her own life. She doesn’t want her children to have the same fate by squandering away the crucial things of life. We read Granny remembering her wedding cake that gone waste as George stood Granny up in altar. Her concern about this wasted food indicates her worry over wasting things. She could not afford losing. She lost the man whom she loved. Granny was afraid of losing because of this unaffordable loss. As she lost her loved one, the life she wanted to live went waste. In The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, the author makes an exploration of human mind through the thoughts of Granny Weatherall. Granny fails to accept the loss and mortality she faces in her life. The author of the short story intermingle different themes of memory, religion, death and betrayal in the story. In The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, the author makes use of symbolism to color the short story. The color blue has special meaning in the short story. Blue shows the different stages of Granny’s life. The color is first mentioned in the short story as Granny remembers her good old days of maintaining a neat, organized household. She attempts to remember the neat white jars that contained contents like sugar, tea and coffee. She had labeled the jars with blue letters. The blue color shows the youthful happy years of Granny when she was energetic and smart enough to be the head of the household. The blue letters seen on the white jars symbolize neatness and discipline. Granny was able to maintain neatness and discipline in those happy days of her life. Blue again appears in the short story as Granny recalls the time when her children watched her put lamps at night, leaving Granny as the flame diminishes to a blue curve. The color blue shows the transitional period in the life of Granny. In that period her children moved away from her to a world of their own. They attained strength from her and discarded her when they no longer needed her. When Granny recalls the way she was ditched, she attempts to console herself to be strong. In the short story we find the blue-gray light falling to her eyes, making her frustrated. She is afraid of getting nightmares. The streaks of light show the time in Granny’s life, as troubles were showered on her. Her personal will was fully broken. A photo of John, Granny’s husband is found. Under the photo a hidden blue can be seen. The photographer blackened John’s eyes in the photo though John had blue eyes. Granny says that even though the photo is attractive it doesn’t portray her husband fully. The blue-turned black shows the period in her life that presented her nothing but contentment. She recognized the bitter fact that she was married to the wrong man. She lost the one who was meant to be her husband. When Granny lies in her bed, we find her thinking of Cornelia’s lampshades that give blue color to the light. This blue shows the instant in Granny’s life when the world passes by her. Finally the blue light appears as the color of the light in the very mind of Granny. She herself snuffs the light out. This shows the final stage of Granny’s life. Granny is moving to her death. Symbolic presentation of elements increases the beauty of the short story The Jilting of Granny Weatherall. The short story The Jilting of Granny Weatherall is written using the rhetorical style stream of consciousness. It is a writing style that is quite like the pattern of human thought. The author of the short story understands this relationship and makes use of this technique to explain the typical life of Granny Weatherall. Through this writing style author explains Granny’s background. This helps readers make their own conclusions regarding certain events. For example, readers makes there own conclusions regarding the death of John, Granny’s husband and Hapsy, Granny’s daughter. The writing style stream of consciousness also keeps the readers in track. Readers get interested in the story and move from one line to the other effortlessly. This eliminates the use of transitions that are used in ordinary prose. Yet another technique used in the short story is the use of flashback. Old stories of Granny Weatherall are brought before the readers by employing flashback. Diction support and sentence structure uphold the writing style stream of consciousness. The sentences used are long, continuous and easy to follow. Few pauses and punctuations give better readability to the short story. Diction used in the story is colloquial. In the story we see that the language used by Granny in talking with other is informal. When Granny speaks out her deeper thoughts, she speaks childishly. The author of The Jilting of Granny Weatherall employs images of dark and light in the short story. Granny’s past stories are images of light "But he had not come... what does a woman do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn't come?" (Porter, 1930). Her sorrowful days are images of dark. "For 60 years she prayed against remembering him and against loosing her soul in the deep pit of hell, and now the two things were mingled in one and the thought of him was a smoky could from hell” (Porter, 1930). The light blown by Granny towards the end shows her life. She is moving into the darkness of death. The author uses physical objects like fog to symbolize non-material things like betrayal. The tone used is bitter and solemn. The tone makes readers feel pity for Granny. In the short story, the author makes use of dialogue to show that there is a big difference between what we wish to say and what we are able to say. Granny is angry as her doctor attempts to patronize her. She couldn’t find the right words to show her anger. Her dialogues had a complaining and fighting mood. Nobody is taking it seriously. Her inadequate words failed to capture the essence of her thoughts. The author’s use of dialogue appears to have an instructive purpose. Through the words of Granny we understand the importance of respecting the people who give good exhortations. Granny’s advices are advices to the readers also. Feelings and thoughts of people like Granny are not considered taking into consideration the indifferent nature of the person. By reading this short story we understand that people with complex thoughts and intense feelings should not be ignored. As Granny becomes weak she is not able to understand the words of those around her. She knows that Cornelia is speaking to her. She, however, cannot hear the words from her mouth. Here the author uses the absence of dialogue to present Granny’s isolation. Granny could not understand what Cornelia says. She also could express herself. Granny’s mind was filled with requests and thoughts. But she could not express them. Even though she makes jokes at Doctor Harry, others could only understand that she wants to say something. At another instant Granny wanted everybody to leave her so that she could take some rest. However, nobody understands her feelings. Absence of dialogue is presented here. The author of the story thus makes wise use of dialogues to enhance the beauty of the short story. The structure of the story is yet another important feature to be mentioned. Granny’s shattered thoughts and flashbacks are arranged in the very best way. The short story appears to be plotless. But the author has wonderfully presented it. The lose structure of the story is its most important feature. The twists and turns and the thoughts that leap back and forth gives a different touch to the story. Even though the entire story is surrounded around the bedridden Granny who is moving to death, her wandering thoughts takes the readers to many places. The dramatic events of her life make the story exciting. The structure of the story is one of the most important feature of the story. The setting of the short story is very much suitable for the events in the story. The setting is the bedroom where Granny is dying. However, majority of the events happen in the thoughts of Granny. Events are a flashback of her memory. The short story is presented as a stream-of-consciousness monologue. It is tale of the last day in the life of the eighty year old lady who could never get the life of her choice. In the last hours of her life we see Granny recalling the past events of her life and her impending life. With her children surrounding her, she brings her life story as a flashback. The painful event that happened more than sixty-years ago came to her thoughts, without her knowledge. She was standing alone in the altar as George jilted her. The setting of the short story fits the events of the story. Works Cited Katherine Anne Porter (1930) The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Read More