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The Thoughts of Granny Weatherall In a semi-conscious state, Granny reviews her life by remembering the important events, frustrations, achievements, and feelings. Her character is illustrated fully with vivid details. Although Granny Weatherall s character seems frail and delicate, Katherine Anne Porter changes the reader s perception of Granny by introducing the qualities of fortitude and the ability to work unremittingly hard. Although strong-willed, Granny has traits of delicacy and frailty the reader can relate to.
She wishes that John, her dead husband, could see her children now and that she could see Hapsy. In addition, she wishes that the old days were back, even though she had a hard time raising her children without a husband. Granny remembers her first jilting, sixty years ago when George abandoned her at the altar. She has never been able to forgive him because of the pain and humiliation that he caused her. Granny says, 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? (116) She had buried the memory in her mind for many years, but now it overwhelms her. Granny reflects on this experience when she says, I want him [George] to know I had my husband just the same and my children and my house like any other woman.
A good house too and a good husband that I loved and fine children out of him... Tell him I was given back everything he took away and more. (117) Granny, in this desperate attempt to resolve this tragedy, cries out to God and her dead husband to get the doctor now, no more talk, my time has come. (117) Everybody goes through dreadful times, but not everyone can endure them with grace and courage. Granny s ability to endure adversity with courage, fortitude, is one of her strongest characteristics. After the jilting at the altar, Granny is still able to cook and clean for her family. Porter says, She thought of all the food she had cooked, and all the clothes she had cut and sewed, and all the gardens she had made... (115) She tries to hide the memories of George deep in her mind, and for sixty years she was able to, until today. She hides George s letters and John s letters, hoping the children would not read and then inquire about them, asking whom they were and where they had gone.
These reminders bring back too many emotions, emotions that she had dealt with long ago and did not have the strength to deal with now. Granny takes to physical labor to take her mind off her past, and the satisfaction of these physical chores givers her self-worth, something she hasn t had in many years. Porter expresses Granny s work ethic as the backbone of the family. Granny works as a farmer, doctor, veterinarian, and she raises her children, alone and courageously. Many nights she sits up caring for sick children and sick animals. Porter says, She had fenced in a hundred acres once, digging the post holes herself and clamping the wires... (115) She wishes the old days were back even though she had a hard time managing the house hold by herself, but she needs the mental satisfaction that she is doing something physically productive.
She is proud of the fact that she never lost a child except for Hapsy, her last born. Granny is always looking for more work to be done, even on her deathbed she thinks about the chores that need to be done around the house. In Katherine Anne Porter s The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, Granny s fortitude, and her courageous work ethic helped her through the times when she appeared delicate and frail. The movement of Granny s thoughts from the past that is light to the present that is dark is the author s way of personifying light and dark. Her past life is clear to her while present events are vague and mixed with past memories. The light that she blows out at the end embodies her life and she will now fall into the shadows of death.
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Research essay sample on Katherine Anne Porter Granny Weatherall
