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Post by joseph on Aug 17, 2022 21:58:30 GMT -8
There are clearly visible signs of suffering that Granny is going through, yet she is blinded by her pride and stubbornness preventing her from realizing what she's going through. From the very beginning, she scolds Doctor Harry for even daring to take care of her for things a "well woman" doesn't have, introducing us to her pride against someone meant to help. While Doctor Harry tries to reassure her, Granny downplays his skills as a doctor as he wasn't even born yet while she went through "milk-leg and double pneumonia." Later on, we catch glimpses of problems Granny has, from fading in and out of consciousness ("Her eyes closed of themselves... like a dark curtain") to having difficulty hearing ("Cornelia's mouth moved urgently in strange shapes. [Granny says,] 'Don't do that, you bother me, daughter.'") We can conclude from this that Granny, whether she's aware of it or not, desires to uphold her own pride by refusing to accept her own flaws and troubles. I do agree that Granny Weatherall is ignorant of her stubbornness and pride, however this aspect of her character may stem from her current physical state. We all know of the phenomenon where people act strange leading up to their death, and Granny's sickness is the author's way of physically manifesting the coming of Granny's death. This physical sickness is also most likely affecting Granny's mental state as well. Granny is in a stage of denial since she knows of her death's coming ("When she was sixty she had felt very old, finished, and went around making farewell trips to see her children and grandchildren..."), and this causes her to be stubborn because "[she] always hated surprises". |
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elian
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Post by elian on Aug 17, 2022 22:01:16 GMT -8
Throughout the story we see changes in the character of Granny, as she began to accept her death. At first, even when her life was declining at such an old age, Granny denied as much help as she could to prove that she can still do things on her own. With the amount of trauma she has endured and experienced in her life, such as being a single mother and left by George, Granny has developed a mindset to be independent and be able to work through things herself. This is shown by her comment, "Leave a well woman alone... Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia." As the story progresses we learn more and more about Granny, understanding why she feels and thinks the way she does. Granny also begins to show pride for herself and what she was able to accomplish trying to flex on George and appreciate her children. In the end, Granny realized she couldn't continue and finally accepted death, shown by "she stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light."
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Post by AshleyTran on Aug 17, 2022 22:10:30 GMT -8
Throughout the story we are taken through the emotions that Granny Weatherall felt towards the end of her life. As the short story begins we are introduced to a stubborn protagonist who refuses to admit that she is ill. Granny was in denial of her deteriorating body and as her family attempted to help her she refused, she didn’t see her children as the adults they were and still wanted to uphold the respect she once had as a strong minded woman. I believe that her attachment to the past has connections to her refusal to believe that she has grown old, granny carries many burdens which makes her believe that her life is unfinished. Towards the end of the story Granny finally comes to terms with her passing and understands that it is the end. I believe that granny weatherall is a dynamic character who has grown and admits that it was the end.
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Post by Kayla Kim P1 on Aug 17, 2022 22:13:29 GMT -8
How do the patterns of literary elements and techniques of Granny Weatherall’s deteriorating health and attitude influence or define her as a character? Explain.
In the last moments of someone's life, it is deemed normal to have a sense of loss and regret when looking back at one's life. Granny weatherall was no exception. Her character as a protagonist relies on secondary characters to show character development and analysis. Her emotions of spite towards George, an incident of betrayal, signifies a step back from character development. Her health was deteriorating, but so was her physiological state. Her feeling of anxiousness in her last moments of her life and her feelings of regret on things she had wished she had done signifies a non peaceful death leaving readers to wonder why she had saved such spite and regret for her last fleeting moments. Her feeling of jilt from George and even her dead daughter truly shows readers she was unavailable to fully accept Her life for what it was, the good or bad. The people surrounding her in her last moments were shadowed by her negativity and longing for her favorite daughter who had never shown upon her wish to see her.
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elian
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Post by elian on Aug 17, 2022 22:25:25 GMT -8
Additionally throughout the short story, Granny Weatherall's mental state was gradually declining. Although Granny Weatherall was bedridden owing to her sickness, she was initially in denial of her sickness and very stubborn. She started listing tasks or acts that she believed she could complete on her own. However, as readers we understand that Cornelia had to do everything, including calling for the doctor and priest. But as Granny Weatherall's thoughts developed into deeper and deeper memories, she became less attached to the physical world and more emotionally unstable. Granny Weatherall loses control of her body, accidentally speaking her thoughts and imagining things in her vision. The rapid time jumps also show the detachment of Granny Weatherall from reality. When Granny Weatherall's physical body finally expired, her mind was still unable to understand that she had passed away. She felt ill-prepared for death because many things had been left undone, but Granny Weatherall insisted throughout the entire story that she was satisfied with her life. I agree with you regarding how she became more mentally unstable as she disconnected from the physical world. Granny was more worried about what she had dealt with and how strong she is for doing so, instead of worrying about her physical state. Thanks to her declining physical state her mental state was affected as shown by her becoming more and more emotionally unstable like you have mentioned. Then as the story ended she passes away, not being able to understand how she couldn't feel the sorrows that caused her to become emotionally unstable. |
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Post by erincaballero on Aug 17, 2022 22:48:59 GMT -8
I found the constantly changing point of view to be the short story's most intriguing element, as well as a particularly effective strategy in drawing emphasis to the broader influence of Granny Weatherall's deteriorating health and attitude. The narrative is primarily communicated through third person, but is littered with bits and pieces of Granny's inner monologue without much distinction between the two POVs. The absence of quotation marks seems to be a deliberate inclusion on the author's part so as to blend together thought, speech, and simple description. However, this ambiguity does not create a seamless stream of consciousness; rather, it creates a frantic back-and-forth effect, replicating for the reader the same tumultuous state of mind Granny Weatherall found herself in during her final moments. The final two pages of the story contain perhaps the most poignant, haunting examples of this, such as, "Light flashed on her closed eyelids, and a deep roaring shook her. Cornelia, is that lightning? I hear thunder. There's going to be a storm. Close all the windows. Call the children in..." (Porter 88). Even among all the chaos and pain, Granny's maternal values fight to take back control as her malicious declining condition demands attention. This struggle appears largely unsuccessful throughout the story, as her own thoughts are merely occasional interjections in a sea of third-person description (which serves to represent the disconnect between Granny and her sense of self caused by her illness) — until these final two pages (directly before her death). Here, Granny's desperation allows her to finally express some of her most defining traits (motherly instinct, selflessness, etc.) herself without the invasiveness and impersonal nature of the outside perspective.
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Post by Alexis Garcia on Aug 17, 2022 23:00:51 GMT -8
In the beginning of this short story, the narrator describes some of Granny's thoughts and actions that lead us to believe that she had been an independent woman when she was younger. Granny mentions on the first page, "Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia? You weren't even born...Doctor Harry appeared to float up to the ceiling and out. 'I pay my own bills, and I don't throw my money away on nonsense!'" In this citation, it's evident that Granny is stubborn, which could have been caused by the level of independence she lived throughout her life; however, this trait that seems to characterize Granny as a strong woman, slowly begins to have been proven wrong as Granny starts to deteriorate as well. As the story progresses, we see how Granny has these visions and hallucination-like things that normally wouldn't happen to healthy, young individuals, which eventually demonstrates Granny's deteriorating health. Later on in the story the author makes sure that we know that Granny is slowly dying by mentioning, "she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar. She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again." As Granny's death continues to be foreshadowed we see that as she comes to those last moments of her death, she loses who she truly was before.
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Post by Mia Espinoza on Aug 17, 2022 23:08:54 GMT -8
It is evident that Granny would die later on when she states, "she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar. She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again." This quote shows that she was comfortable with the topic of death, but most importantly it was foreshadowing that she would, later on, die in the story. This also reveals about her personality that she has a very tough mental and that probably something in her past prepared her for this moment. To add on Safi comment about her mentality and death,We see Granny had a hard life, raising kids all by herself, being a good housewife and the realizing its not easy to do all these things ,but she wanted to prove that she was able to do such things to prove to herself and her kids that shes strong and you can do anything. The mentality to keep pushing and hoping for something takes strength and practice. When she's at death's door Granny couldn't believe it. Granny had no time to think about death, she was to busy worrying about others especially her kids. Granny refuses to give up and show everyone how vulnerable she actually is. Granny puts up a front for so long, so when she gets sick Granny reflects understand that life caught up to her. |
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Post by Alexis Garcia on Aug 17, 2022 23:10:00 GMT -8
The “Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a short story by Katherine Anne Porter in which Granny Weatherall refuses to believe that she is sick and dying even though she is on her death bed. Throughout the text we go on a journey through Granny’s reflection of her past. We come to find out that her husband, John, passed away and Granny has had to take over her being a mother and a father to her children. She was there for her kids basically all of there life and it not ready to let go. She still feels a sense of authority to watch over them even though she is on her death bed. She only wants the best for her family and to show she is strong I like how you mentioned some of Granny's background as to why she feels the need to protect her children, and it all influences how her character begins in the beginning of the story. Because of her hard-headedness, it's practical to think that she wouldn't come to terms with her death, but we seem to be proven wrong when she accepts that she's not okay. Her character's deterioration had a major influence on how we view her in the end, but it also comes to be important when we analyze all her actions and why she did them. |
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Post by erincaballero on Aug 17, 2022 23:17:26 GMT -8
Additionally throughout the short story, Granny Weatherall's mental state was gradually declining. Although Granny Weatherall was bedridden owing to her sickness, she was initially in denial of her sickness and very stubborn. She started listing tasks or acts that she believed she could complete on her own. However, as readers we understand that Cornelia had to do everything, including calling for the doctor and priest. But as Granny Weatherall's thoughts developed into deeper and deeper memories, she became less attached to the physical world and more emotionally unstable. Granny Weatherall loses control of her body, accidentally speaking her thoughts and imagining things in her vision. The rapid time jumps also show the detachment of Granny Weatherall from reality. When Granny Weatherall's physical body finally expired, her mind was still unable to understand that she had passed away. She felt ill-prepared for death because many things had been left undone, but Granny Weatherall insisted throughout the entire story that she was satisfied with her life. I think your description of Granny Weatherall's decline as detachment from the physical world is extremely accurate; it encapsulates the tragically whimsical tone established more explicitly by details like the repeated use of the word "float" early in the story, as well as the subtle implications of Granny's confusion and hallucinations throughout the narrative. The details in the second to last paragraph of the story painting her body as "only a deeper mass of shadow in an endless darkness" seem to complete this process of detachment in a particularly morbid manner. |
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Post by margabriellenavarro on Aug 18, 2022 0:12:54 GMT -8
I agree with the idea that was mentioned in class about George being the antagonist since he had a negative impact on Granny’s psychological state. Granny was obsessed with proving herself to George about how she was able to live perfectly fine without him. She got married, had children, and raised them all by herself. She had lived the life that she wanted without George's help and in doing so, she thought that she would be able to forget about him, yet she still holds this kind of grudge and shows resentment towards him. It is clear that Granny has not let go of George as she would like to, “tell him [that] I was given back everything [that] he took away and more” in order to satisfy her feelings of approval (Porter 86). Additionally, George jilting Granny at her alter on their wedding day connects to the overall concept of, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”.
Moreover, one problem that I believe Granny has in terms of characterization is hubris pride as she is absorbed with feelings of self-pride when it comes to proving herself to George, and when she refuses any help from Cornelia while she is at her bedside as she believes that the mother should be caring for her children and not the other way around. She doesn’t believe that she is on her deathbed as she goes off on Doctor Harry stating, “Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-led and double pneumonia? You weren’t even born”, but when she realizes that she is dying, she becomes shocked and goes in denial (Porter 80). As one of my peers put it, Granny Weatherall enters the first stage of grief: denial. Granny Weatherall starts off with feelings of self-confidence but ends off with feelings of denial and unacceptance.
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Post by margabriellenavarro on Aug 18, 2022 0:14:43 GMT -8
In the very last paragraph of the short story, Granny Weatherall is shown asking God for a sign, any sign, as she gave into the darkness, and as she states, "For the second time there was no sign. Again no bridegroom and no priest in the house. She could not remember any other sorrow because this grief wiped them away." It shows that even in the last seconds of her life, she is utterly consumed by her trauma and issues of abandonment, more so than anything else, saying that this grief wiped any other struggles and issues she had. When a sign didn't come from god, she felt as if she was abandoned once again, and I believe because of it, she gave into her death, because it was like another blow to her already critical state. I agree with the idea of how she was abandoned once again when she turns to God for help as she pleads, “God, give a sign!” and is not being given a response like on the day of her wedding. To add, this can connect to the overall concept of, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, like how she was jilted by George on her wedding day, and now, once again jilted by God which made her feel an awful wave of grief and sorrow as those were her final thoughts before she passed. |
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Post by Damien Gonzalez on Aug 18, 2022 13:51:42 GMT -8
I think we first see Granny as a strong and independent person purely because of the fact that she feels that she doesn’t need assistance and also cause I feel like we read about her wanting to do things herself. I think a perfect example could be when she states, “I pay my own bills” which is her reaction to seeing a doctor, because she feels as though she doesn’t need a doctor cause not only cause she doesn’t want to spend money, but also because she finds it nonsensical. However, we see this strong independent side of Granny sort of deteriorate through the story as she comes to terms with the fact that she is ill, and also because she is coming to terms with the fact that she is on her way out. The way I think of it, it’s more that she was so comfortable living an independent life, that she didn’t want to accept the she was dying and needed help in her final moments.
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Post by Damien Gonzalez on Aug 18, 2022 13:55:23 GMT -8
I agree with you 100% because I too believe that Granny was a strong and independent person. However I also saw that she sort of became accepting of the help and realized that she was on her way out and that she had accomplished great things In her life. So yeah, I agree with you. 👍
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Post by Lang Yuan on Aug 18, 2022 16:37:26 GMT -8
Granny displays a show of change of thought throughout the story to first convey her young stubborn spirit denying the oncoming old age, then her succumbing to the realization and accepting the fact of her growing age and dementia, leading to her inevitable death of old age. Her attitude throughout the story changed in a subtle manner, reacting to the actions and words of other characters. It shows how people can change you no matter how subtle each change is. The inevitable churning of time will leak through any fortification of the mind, no matter the strength or integrity.
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