1. The Jilting of Granny Weatherall P. 260By
Katherine Anne Porter
( )

2. Katherine Anne Porter http://www.famoustexans.com/katherineanneporter.htm
Born in Texas
Started writing stories as a child
Regarded as a superb short story writer
Praised for her psychological insight

3. Katherine Anne Porter Often based stories on her own experience
Portrayed strong women whose idealism is challenged by life’s hardships
Won Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

4. Katherine Anne Porter
“ For this vocation [writing] I was and am willing to live and die, and I consider very few other things of the slightest importance.”

5. My whole attempt has been to discover and understand human motives, human feeling, to make a distillation of what human relations and experiences my mind has been able to absorb. I have never known an uninteresting human being, and I have never known two alike; there are broad classifications and deep similarities, but I am interested in the thumbprint (K. A. Porter).

6. Conflicts in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Plot
Conflicts in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Person vs. self
Granny tries to forget George
Person vs. person
The jilting by George
Granny against Cornelia and Doctor Harry
Person vs. God
The second jilting at death
Person vs. environment
The fence posts
Granny against life

7. Movement of Plot
The plot does not move sequentially because of the stream of consciousness style.
The events of her life, when sorted out, happen in this order:
Granny’s first jilting at age 20
Birth of Hapsy, milk-leg, and double pneumonia at age 40
Farewells and fever at age 60
Real death at age 80
Granny’s Death
She fails to see “a sign”
Feels she has been jilted a 2nd time
Loses faith in her religion
Dies without God

8. Natural and man-made Cornelia’s house Setting
Granny’s own house and yard are the setting in her flashbacks.
Heaven and Hell were there for her.
Cornelia’s house
She dies here, but she keeps confusing it with her own house.

9. Granny Weatherall Characterization
“On [her] feet…morally speaking” (p.260)
Strong willed
Hard-working
Raised large family alone
Cared for livestock
Cared for sick
Worked for church
Kept letters to and from George
Has suffered—“Something not given back” (p. 265)

10. Protagonist = Granny Weatherall
Antagonists = Life and Death
Granny = developing character

11. Jolting Epiphanies 3 Main Events in Her Life: 1. At 20, jilted
2. At 40, bore last child
At 60, prepared to die
At 80, loses faith
Significance of events:
Lead her to redefine her life and faith

12. Other Characters The children— Doctor Harry The Priest Hapsy
Like calves in the lamplight
Dutiful (Cornelia)
Doctor Harry
young
Stock character
The Priest
present at both jiltings
Hapsy
Last born child
Favorite
Not living
Died in childbirth?

13. Stream-of-consciousness
Title and pt. of view
Title
Provides clues to the theme
Focus is on Granny
Her name is a play on words
Pt. of View is a combination of limited omniscient and interior monologue
Look for evidence of each type
Stream-of-consciousness
The confusion in the plot reflects her mental state

14. Images of light, fog, and darkness
Symbolism
Name symbolism
“weathered all”
Images of light, fog, and darkness
The children in the lamplight
The ending pinpoint of light
Others?
Religious symbols
Rosary
Crucifix
Hapsy with child = Madonna and child
Other symbols?

15. Granny was able to weather all except death
Theme
Granny was able to weather all except death
Denial can only serve to control for so long. In the end there can be no denial
Life is beautiful and hard
Death is harder
Who can really prepare for death?