Granny Weatherall’s Extended Discussion

[lilithzapata]

The theme of denial is recurrent throughout the story. We see Granny Weatherall put on a facade of being a tough older woman but behind that mask is a woman who has experienced a great amount of hardship. She lost her husband John and was jilted at the altar. Perhaps the title itself relates to the idea of death. Jilted at the altar but also jilted by death at times. When she was 60, she describes preparing for death, but she did not die. Now that she is actually dying, there is a sense of fear which is a natural response to death.

[Jenna Min]

In the beginning of the story, it's pretty clear that we see foreshadowing in the granny's death. For example, on page 82, it states, "she found death in her mind." Although we are all bound to die, I feel that the granny is aware that her time is coming and tries to give farewells throughout the entire storyline. Also, on page 83, when granny states, "There was always so much to be done, let me see: tomorrow." This is kind of showing the audience that she's having difficulty with doing daily tasks. Even waiting for tomorrow is tough, and its as if shes waiting for the day. Moreover, she starts to reminisce over her old days with George, Hapsy, John, etc. It's as if shes reliving her last 7 minutes of best memories (in science, like how people relive their best memories right before they die). Throughout the story, there's also symbolism on color, such as green days. Green can represent sickly feeling, like vomiting, but it can also stand for health and nature. In the granny's perspective, we can see that her health is declining.

[Jenna Min]

Aug 19, 2021 21:20:22 GMT -8 lilithzapata said:

The theme of denial is recurrent throughout the story. We see Granny Weatherall put on a facade of being a tough older woman but behind that mask is a woman who has experienced a great amount of hardship. She lost her husband John and was jilted at the altar. Perhaps the title itself relates to the idea of death. Jilted at the altar but also jilted by death at times. When she was 60, she describes preparing for death, but she did not die. Now that she is actually dying, there is a sense of fear which is a natural response to death.

Hey Lilith XD, This is a really good point. I didn't even think about the way the title itself relates to the idea of death. As someone mentioned, I also believe granny weatherall's name symbolizes death as well, like how she's experienced all the good and bad weathers (or situations). 

[Darren Ich]

Granny's stubbornness is shown when she talks about how she has to take the role of her dead husband, fulfilling both parent figures in the family. She kept up this idea in her head for a very long time. Her stubbornness is shown when even as her body is deteriorating she still wants to fulfill the position of being a parent figure even as she knows her body is getting weaker and older. Her stubbornness is also shown when she says "I pay my own bills". This shows her stubbornness because it demonstrates how she wants to do everything herself especially paying for her own things and how her point of view or attitude towards has not changed at all as she believes she that these things are still her responsibility.

[Darren Ich]

Aug 19, 2021 17:58:42 GMT -8 Safi Saleem said:

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.

I agree with Safi on how the quote of "she found death in her mind and if felt clammy and unfamiliar". This quote is interesting because Granny was a very strong person and believed that she would not die soon, but in a way she knew that her time was coming soon. I would also like to add how Granny at the end of the short story was accepting of her death. This is because she possibly believed that she fulfilled her goal of playing both parent roles and completed all of her responsibilities in life.  

[Anuthmi Waas]

The contrast between reality, what others are saying and Granny Weatherall’s actions, and what Granny thinks, or believe, adds to Granny Weatherall’s characterization as it reveals what others view her as, as well as what she views herself as. The view her kids have of Granny is that she is childish, and requires assistance ( Porter 82). Her children and her doctor view Granny as someone who is elderly and sick, meaning she needs help and may not be in her mind mind. Furthermore, the actions that Granny Weatherall do, reveals a lot about the reality of the character. The clear contrast between Granny’s actions and her thoughts are shown when she wants to lower the shades: “ She must get up and pull the shades down or she’d never sleep. She was in bed again and the shades were not down. How could that happen?” (Porter 84/85). Weatherall fully intends on shutting the shades, and while she thinks she does, in reality, she does not. This inability to close the shades represents how Granny Weatherall is losing her capabilities, as the rest of the short story, it is evident she is an accomplished, independent woman. The juxtaposition of Granny Weatherall’s actions and beliefs about herself reveals that while she still has her stubbornness, she may not have her independence as much as she used to. This is because, as the first paraphrase shows, Granny depends on her children as she gets older and cannot necessarily do everything herself. The character of Granny that can be illustrated through these realizations is that she is a woman who is very stubborn, used to independent, and is currently reliant on others due to her age and illness.

[Akash Surendran]

Aug 19, 2021 19:09:17 GMT -8 Thomas Lee said:

Aug 19, 2021 17:58:42 GMT -8 Safi Saleem said:

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.

This is a very interesting point brought on by Safi since the quote he presents does show a foreshadowing of death as stated but also brings up the inner conflicts of Granny. Granny is portrayed as a strong character who feels pride in her strength all the while it is presumed she is preparing for death as stated. If this were the case she would have some fear of death having thought of it to that extent but rather she feels "no need for bringing it up again" showing despite death being around the corner, she still clings to her innate traits of being strong.

It makes sense why Granny would be interpreted as strong in this situation, however, her almost carefree attitude towards death at this point also comes across as detachment. We see right before she starts mentioning death that she is planning for the next day in such detail and worry. So, she has responsibilities that she cannot let go of, showing an attachment to life. But then she brings up how she has long since resigned herself to death and has grown numb to that fact. What this implies is that Granny has entered a state of simultaneous attachment and detachment from life as she nears death. Her behavior might come off as staying true to her strong personality, but we can also see that she has stopped feeling any fear, therefore taking away a reason to be strong.

[Amos Yeung]

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.

[Amos Yeung]

Aug 19, 2021 15:08:39 GMT -8 eriiic said:

We can see that Weatherall first shows a brash/lone wolf personality due to her self-made lifestyle, like when she replies to the Doc that "he wasn't even born yet" when she triumphed worse conditions. However, when remembering her time is short, she almost immediately transforms to like a social groupie, desperate for company during her final moments. It's like she was so comfortable living a life of strength that she didn't really consider how to manage or accept when she becomes her weakest.

I can see the brash and lone wolf personality that the self-made lifestyle influenced, but I do believe that her true personality is much less brutal and than is mostly described throughout her interactions. Her relationships are not the best with certain people such as the Doctor, but she has a thoughtful and slower paced personality than described in the text as she discusses the moments of her contemplating her choices and seeking attention.

[Flora Xiao]

Building off of what Hilary mentioned, in HTRLLAP, under communion, there was a short quote along the lines of "death is inevitable". This notion is universal and through this reading, we see Granny Weatherall as this character that acknowledges death at every turn and "had once for all got over the idea of dying for a long time" (Porter 82), yet reminisces about what could've happened differently. She embraces that she will live till a very old age when she mentions her father living "to be one hundred and two years old and had drunk a noggin of strong hot toddy on his last birthday" (Porter 82), indicating that, like Hilary said, she is a woman who accepts her own death.

[Steven Yap]

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.

[Steven Yap]

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 descriptions of the setting's undoubtedly illustrate and reflect Granny's character and her awareness to death/future. There is a particular chapter in HTRLLP where the author goes into detail of how the weather can potentially shift a story effecting the characters future while describing their attitude toward whatever goals or obstacles they must overcome. The author of Granny Weatherall successfully conveys Granny's ultimate demise using techniques like, "a deeper mass of shadow" and "darkness would curl around the light" to help the story progress and portray Granny's emotions during her death.

[Ximena Juarez]

Aug 19, 2021 21:32:42 GMT -8 Jenna Min said:

In the beginning of the story, it's pretty clear that we see foreshadowing in the granny's death. For example, on page 82, it states, "she found death in her mind." Although we are all bound to die, I feel that the granny is aware that her time is coming and tries to give farewells throughout the entire storyline. Also, on page 83, when granny states, "There was always so much to be done, let me see: tomorrow." This is kind of showing the audience that she's having difficulty with doing daily tasks. Even waiting for tomorrow is tough, and its as if shes waiting for the day. Moreover, she starts to reminisce over her old days with George, Hapsy, John, etc. It's as if shes reliving her last 7 minutes of best memories (in science, like how people relive their best memories right before they die). Throughout the story, there's also symbolism on color, such as green days. Green can represent sickly feeling, like vomiting, but it can also stand for health and nature. In the granny's perspective, we can see that her health is declining.

Similarly to Jenna's input on symbolism with color, there is a metaphor that can also be seen as symbolism on page 82. It quotes, "...sitting there as if she lived in a thin glass cage." In this scenario, the thin glass cage is representing Granny Weatherall's family consistently mentioning her age in front of her as if they didn't realize it hurt her. But it can also represent something deeper, like Jenna mentions the color green representing her declining health, the glass cage also can. Granny feels trapped as if she can't prevent her life from ending, being in a stage of denial. She wishes to preserve herself in a thin glass cage to not feel as if she is dying and wishes to be placed on display for eternity. She tries to ignore the situation, and not have to fall into a spiral of pre-death thoughts and ideas.

[Luigi Lozano]

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall obtains strong patterns of literary elements that coincides with the real life comparisons of ordinary people and Granny's physical health. Towards the beginning of the short story, Granny perceived herself to show no empathy for anyone other than herself based on her failing condition. In her age, Weatherall's body has deteriorated extensively to the point where her peak condition no longer resides with her. Attributes that are not equal to the social normality is considered imperfect and frowned upon, even in our real world. People's traits feel judged by other people constantly throughout their life, that several reactions may take place. Depression and even frustration could result from the feelings of being inferior to other people's attributes, as Weatherall portrayed. For instance, in the beginning, Weatherall was frustrated with other people viewing her as frail and weaker than she used to be, which conflicted with her perception of being an unloving grandmother. Then, Weatherall faces a crisis where she obtains elements of a depressive disorder. She starts pondering death after realizing her life was not complete (in her standings). She states she had more to live for, and also wondered if her life and her decisions was what she actually is contempt with. The diction especially was relatable to the audience as we ourselves are influenced by other people, and view ourselves to be less fortunate than others around us. This idea that Granny Weatherall creates of herself, as a person who lost the ability of youth, is systematic and very complex in its understanding, for frustration can only exist through an alternative source. By this understanding, Granny Weatherall is misunderstood, and faces symptoms of depression and a natural response to human judgement that caused her behavior to act in this manner.

[Luigi Lozano]

Aug 20, 2021 0:04:00 GMT -8 Darren Ich said:

Granny's stubbornness is shown when she talks about how she has to take the role of her dead husband, fulfilling both parent figures in the family. She kept up this idea in her head for a very long time. Her stubbornness is shown when even as her body is deteriorating she still wants to fulfill the position of being a parent figure even as she knows her body is getting weaker and older. Her stubbornness is also shown when she says "I pay my own bills". This shows her stubbornness because it demonstrates how she wants to do everything herself especially paying for her own things and how her point of view or attitude towards has not changed at all as she believes she that these things are still her responsibility.

I one hundred percent agree with you saying that Granny Weatherall is stubborn in her own way. For someone to be so matured, her attitude towards those around her, especially family and health care workers is unfair. The argument that you portray is not wrong in the slightest, and I am happy to note that I agree with this level of intellect. I would say, in this case, it is ok to remain stubborn to maintain our own independence, but for her age, she should be more willing to comply with people who want to help her. Anyways, I hope you have a great and amazing week. Enjoy english class my friend! 
Sincerely, Luigi Lozano from Chino Hills High School