Granny Weatherall’s Extended Discussion

[Wesley Nguyen]

The author of the story uses Weatherall’s deteriorating health and attitude to deepen Granny’s character as a whole. Granny’s health is used to show how stress affects someone’s personality. For example, as we age, we become weaker; however, Granny still thinks she can take care of herself. Granny views herself as a strong independent woman. Her daughter Cornelia sees Granny’s mental and physical state and calls a doctor, but Granny is stubborn to change. She dismisses what the doctor has to say to her and her daughter’s help. For example, she said that even though her daughter is kind, she wants to spank her for trying to support her. When Granny gets closer to death, more emotions begin to flow out. She begins to reminisce about her past. Even at her death she was not at peace and thought that there were many things she could not achieve. Additionally, the weather was used to portray Granny’s poor state of mind. A storm and rain were used to represent the mental turmoil of Granny.

[Wesley Nguyen]

Aug 17, 2022 22:01:16 GMT -8 elian said:

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."

I completely agree that Granny is stubborn since she views herself as a very strong, independent woman. She not only dismisses the doctor's advice, she also dismisses her daughters help. For example, Granny is proud that she raised a kind daughter, but also cringes that she is trying to help her (Granny says she wants to spank her). However, I would not say that Granny was completely at peace when she died. At the end of the story, a heavy storm was used to portray Granny's mental state: a turmoil mess. She could not die in peace because she believed that there were a lot of things in life she had yet to accomplish or finish. Overall good analysis )

[talaya]

Granny Weatherall has a feistiness to her as we start but as you read more her character develops explaining why she is the way she is and why she has this strong independence about herself in all aspects of her life. Sher shares later on how the loss George led her to have such a strong grasp on her independence. In her present sick days she still hold her independency close to her heart as she wants to prove to everyone that she is "fine" when she is obviously not. But as she is trying to prove to others how strong she is, you have to ask yourself is she trying to prove to others, or is she trying to convince herself? Brought up in class was a stage of grief, denial. It is very possible that she is going through that, and from that it the constant validation that she keeps giving to everyone that she is ok. Almost like that the fact that she is sick is scaring her to think that she can't provide for herself, provide for her daughter, and still stand by that independency she once had and stood so strongly by. As she talks about George, she wants to highlight how better off she was without him, how much she accomplished without his help and I think by being sick she feels as if all the hard work she did means nothing now she can't do the things she once did as an independent woman.

[talaya]

Aug 20, 2021 19:47:27 GMT -8 Amos Yeung said:

Towards the middle of the story when Granny describes the surroundings and environment as she lays on the bed, she provides descriptions of the environment around her which shows a comparison to her health condition. Although her will power to fight through such medical problems is so extreme, as seen in her interactions when describing her independence and ability to live on her own, she begins to deteriorate as the text is less concentrated on her disagreements in the worlds and more of her acceptance of the future. This is shown especially in the descriptions of the setting. At first, the descriptions of the comforting breeze dictate her feeling of tranquility when laying on her bed, but toward the end, her descriptions become more grim and the setting is described through thunder and dark skies.

The contents of the settings explain a lot about the stages of sickness she is in, and you can think of the settings of how light and breezy it was to the harsh darkness as a foreshadowing of what could possibly happen next. However, her sickness could be altering what is around her, what she is thinking, and feeling. 

[yasminquazi]

It is evident in the story that Granny has trouble coming to terms with the idea that she is dying. It seems as if she has determination to stay alive, similarly to how she had a very determined personality when she was younger, but I believe that she had brushed off the idea of dying so much to the point where she denies it will happen. For example a line on page 82 says, "She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again." This quote demonstrates how Granny overlooks the possibility of death because she has already thought about it even though that was twenty years ago. Throughout the story we can see that she has very stubborn tendencies through the way she talks to Cornelia as well as the doctor, and because of this I think that since she has been in denial of her death for twenty years it is extremely hard for her to come to terms with it now.

[yasminquazi]

Aug 21, 2021 10:48:45 GMT -8 Steven Yap said:

Throughout the story, Granny is constantly reminded of her deteriorating state of health and old age which pronounces her true state of denial and stubbornness. Granny despises people when they mention her health and when the doctor and Cornelia are talking in the hallway about Granny, Granny, “saw herself spanking Cornelia and making a fine job out of it.” Not only does this reveal her childish attitude towards death but it also reflects her struggle to accept that she is no longer young. She tries to create reality’s like the spanking of Cornelia to relive her moments as a person who was able to care for herself and have decisions made by her instead of other people. The fact that her denial goes to the point where she has to make up realities to cope with her inevitable demise demonstrates her ridiculous perspective about the relationship between death and life.

I agree that throughout the story it is very apparent that Granny struggles to accept the fact that her health is deteriorating. Adding on to how you mentioned that she is no longer young, we can see in multiple instances in the text where she reminisces about a time in her past. For example she thinks about her children and it makes her feel happy and at peace. She mentions, "Granny wishes the old days were back again with the children young..." The way these memories make her feel happy in such a sad time shows how she no longer wants to be old.

[Max Feingold]

Granny in The Jilting Granny Weatherall is a headstrong character in which she gets annoyed by the small things that people do. Something that was undiscussed was that Granny was a procrastinator. Multiple times throughout the text she would say different variations of "I'll do it tomorrow". And in the end, she doesn't end up getting to do the things tomorrow, giving a message to the readers to get stuff done. This leads into her procrastination of death, she always believes there is a tomorrow to do things, and she gets mad when people say things like there is not one.

[Katrina Yang]

Granny Weatherall’s personality and actions as portrayed in the piece was defined by her tragic and difficult past with her previous fiance. Due to the troubling experience she underwent sixty years ago when her ex-fiance, George, left her at the altar, Granny had grown to become independent and desired to be in control of every part of her life. Though internally satisfied with the amount of hardwood she has done to care for her children, Granny progressively grew more fearful and anxious as the notion of death, the uncontrollable, neared her. Despite appearing to be at peace, and even welcoming of the “peaceful” state of death, as Granny’s condition worsened it becomes evident of how unprepared she is to leave the living world. She still has much to tell to her children and even tries to suppose her lifetime to be longer (as was her father). Despite these attempts, Granny’s worsening eyesight, understanding of reality, and deteriorating health, displays how she is losing control of her life. As it can be seen through her attitude and distaste of those caring for her, Granny's character is evidently seen to be as someone who desires to fend for herself as a result from her traumatic experience of her past.   

[Max Feingold]

Aug 18, 2022 19:22:50 GMT -8 yasminquazi said:

It is evident in the story that Granny has trouble coming to terms with the idea that she is dying. It seems as if she has determination to stay alive, similarly to how she had a very determined personality when she was younger, but I believe that she had brushed off the idea of dying so much to the point where she denies it will happen. For example a line on page 82 says, "She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again." This quote demonstrates how Granny overlooks the possibility of death because she has already thought about it even though that was twenty years ago. Throughout the story we can see that she has very stubborn tendencies through the way she talks to Cornelia as well as the doctor, and because of this I think that since she has been in denial of her death for twenty years it is extremely hard for her to come to terms with it now.

 I agree with this and have similar ideas to yours; I agree that she could be in denial about here death since that she believed she already had lived her life and accepted everything in it, but she lived 20 more years and then had more things she needed to accept. 

[David Zhu]

I think it becomes more psychological as one gets closer to the end of their existence. Traumas they had experienced throughout their lives outweigh the anguish of their illness. After all, it would make sense for someone to have a number of flashbacks when they are aware of how little time they have left. In the book, Granny Weatherall reflects on the difficulties she faced but was always able to overcome, like the time she overcame double pneumonia and milk-leg, as well as the time she was jilted but managed to persevere. She is currently experiencing only psychological trauma as a result of her deep regret and grief. She started to wish she was still youthful as she neared her unavoidable death. Weatherall has always been a powerful lady in her children's eyes, but now that she is close to passing away, she feels inconsequential.

[yaelg]

Aug 18, 2022 17:06:36 GMT -8 Wesley Nguyen said:

The author of the story uses Weatherall’s deteriorating health and attitude to deepen Granny’s character as a whole. Granny’s health is used to show how stress affects someone’s personality. For example, as we age, we become weaker; however, Granny still thinks she can take care of herself. Granny views herself as a strong independent woman. Her daughter Cornelia sees Granny’s mental and physical state and calls a doctor, but Granny is stubborn to change. She dismisses what the doctor has to say to her and her daughter’s help. For example, she said that even though her daughter is kind, she wants to spank her for trying to support her. When Granny gets closer to death, more emotions begin to flow out. She begins to reminisce about her past. Even at her death she was not at peace and thought that there were many things she could not achieve. Additionally, the weather was used to portray Granny’s poor state of mind. A storm and rain were used to represent the mental turmoil of Granny.

I strongly agree, though I have a different application of this analysis through Character Perspective. The facts you pointed out about Granny thinking she can still take care of herself, thinking of herself as a strong independent woman, and her unyielding attitude in the face of aid are a side-effect of her background. Her past consists of hardships, abandonment, and subsequent independence that have shaped her current outlook on herself and other people. Ever since the day of her wedding, a sense of self-preservation and perseverance has manifested within her psyche, so much so she now holds a cynical outlook that pushes away the aid of others and expands her stubborn personality. 

[David Zhu]

Aug 17, 2022 21:11:41 GMT -8 David M said:

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 also believe that pride played a major role in grandma Weatherall's behavior and thinking. In her own mind, she was able to move on from all the horrible occurrences, and her children looked up to her as someone who is so competent since the story details everything that she had gone through. She always tried to avoid becoming a burden on the family, but later in the story she is too ill to care for herself, she is at a loss for what to do.

[Leila Helene Go-Bulusan]

During discussion in class on Wednesday, there was something that I wanted to mention with regards to Granny Weatherall's willpower with her dying body and using sarcasm as a way to disguise her fear.  It's kind of like using the methods of "Mind over matter" and "laws of attraction" to combat fear.  I believe that the mind is very powerful; So powerful that it can either cure ones own disease or worsen it.  It just depends on how you view the problem.  "[Granny Weatherall] has spent so much time preparing for death there was no need for bringing it up again"(82). The topic of death is one of the most morbid thoughts that any being can either think or contemplate about. And due to this fear, we often turn our backs and become unprepared for one of lives biggest reality- death. By the laws of attraction, Granny Weatherwall indefinitely had the type of mindset that she already accepted her death. Mind over matter comes into play by this because as your mind is one of the most powerful things, it has the power to cause your body to react in certain ways. Certain ways that if you accept this fate, if you accept death, you are basically telling your body to give up and that its not worth the energy. I can say because of this, Granny Weatherall ultimately manifested for her death to come.