Explication “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”

In this poetic description of the final moments of Granny Weatherall, Katherine Anne Porter uses the instruments of metaphor, allegory, and symbolism to paint a portrait of a woman who has been jilted in life and in her approaching death.

The author presents a contrast by using descriptions of how Granny remembers her own role raising children even as she lies in a hospital bed watched over by her daughter. “She saw herself spanking Cornelia and making a fine job of it.” It is clear that Granny associates herself as fulfilling the caring and disciplinary mother role even as she lies incapable of caring for herself. The archetypal familial relationship of mother and daughter has switched off, with child becoming the provider for an elderly and frail patient.

It’s important to consider the various stages of denial that Granny passes through avoiding acknowledging her own illness. She initially refuses Doctor Harry’s care, saying “There’s nothing wrong with me” (Porter 2). This makes it clear to the reader the physical and mental state that Granny is in, as the author describes using the instrument of metaphor “Her bones felt loose” (Porter 7). Even as Granny lies, experiencing such floating and disconnected sensations, she is thinking of all the tasks that await her. “Tomorrow was far away and there was nothing to trouble about” (Porter 24). Granny does not acknowledge dying as a real and imminent growing possibility, even as she lies on her deathbed. The author picks up on many of the human fears that surround the interpretation of death and dying, but in an almost light-mannered way. The experience of Granny trying to communicate a thought, and of deciding to herself in that moment the way she felt about a concept as seemingly distant as death, “While she was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar” (Porter 29). It is not until the very end that the reader discovers how deep in denial of her own age and health Granny is.

In refusing to accept death, Granny returns to a familiar pattern of less than honest self-reflection as is made evident by her returning to the memory of being left at the altar. “Since the day the wedding cake was not cut, but thrown out and wasted” (Porter 100). She is unable to escape the memories of a man who jilted her, even as she continuously asserts her own separation from the entire matter, “Find him and be sure to tell him I forgot him” (Porter 52). It is evidence of the lasting impact that Granny’s lost lover has created that sixty years later, she is still thinking of messages to send to him. This is the jilting that returns symbolically as the attribute of death as a light draws closer to Granny. She is finally relieved of the various obligation circling her mind when death, described as the point of a candle’s flame, approaches. “The blue light from Cornelia’s lampshade drew into a tiny point in the center of her brain” (Porter 128). The combination of describing the light drawing closer and becoming more pinpointed as well as the author’s descriptions of Granny’s physical state make it clear to the reader the state she is in, being so close to death.

Granny is jilted once more as she waits patiently on her deathbed for her various religious beliefs to become evident to her. “God, give a sign! For a second time there was no sign. Again no bridegroom and the priest in the house” (Porter 130). Here, the author draws a comparison between Granny being stood up at the altar and her waiting for God to appear and guide her towards the light. She continues the metaphor of light through to the end of the piece, ending it with end of Granny’s life.

Work Cited

Porter, Katherine Anne. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”. Morrisville, 1930. http://people.morrisville.edu/~whitnemr/html/The%20Jilting%20of%20Granny%20Weatherall.htm