This is because she wanted to change the location of their family vacation. The father wanted to go to Florida, however the grandmother believed that tennessee was a more ideal place for a vacation. She even goes to the extent of pointing out that a convicted killer is on the loose and it could potentially endanger their life. This all leaves the audience with the curiosity of what if? What if the grandmother had never been stubborn and just complied with the father? Maybe everything could have happened differently.
Whilst on the road, the grandmother shows her ignorant side while talking with the children on the car. She is repeatedly bringing up the past and comparing it to the present saying comments such as “In my time...children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else”. The grandmothers ignorance makes its appears throughout the rest of the short story. The audience can better understand this part of the story due to the fact that they too have a family member of loved one that also compares the present to the past any chance they