An Analysis Of Porter's The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

Additionally, this remark establishes her character as being very meticulous, and determined to overcome anything she is faced with. Granny is a sturdy woman and seems to defy the typical expectations of women during this time period. Granny remembers a time when her children had fully grown into capable adults; this time of her life brought immense depression because her children no longer needed her to take care of them. She, (along with many other mothers), experiences the difficulty of losing her sense of self-worth. This was a major upheaval in her adult life; she often fantasizes about the earlier days when her children were young and everything was under her control. Throughout the story Cornelia, the youngest and most compassionate …show more content…
She had personal knowledge and experience with religious belief and grave illness all exhibited during the story. The Granny in the story represents and symbolizes Porter’s grandmother that grew ill and died before her eyes. Therefore, this is an accurate correlation between the experiences in her real life and the fictional stories she writes. Porter was very close with her grandmother, and their relationship influenced her to write this work in an effort to make a contribution to her memory. Her experiences of instability essentially promoted a theme of turmoil for the characters in her stories. The unstable life of Porter stems from the substantial loss she has endured at a young age; instability encountered during childhood potentially led to continued unsteadiness in adulthood. In the events of Porter experiencing new loss, moving frequently, working countless insignificant jobs, and contracting a few serious illnesses further supports the theme of insecurity. First, she lost the central female role models a child could have: her mother at the age of two and her grandmother before she turned thirteen. Second, Porter had four passionate marriages all resulting in divorce. She was also subjected to severe physical abuse from her first husband, John Koontz, to whom she was married to for the longest at nine years. The inability to stay in a relationship may have taken a toll on Porter’s spirit. The men in her last two marriages were thirteen and twenty years younger than Porter providing a large age gap between them. The last example of a major loss in Porter’s life was the several miscarriages that ended the hope of her ever becoming a mother. As Porter frequently went through life continuously changing addresses, she also worked countless low-paying jobs to pay her basic expenses. Instability was further endorsed emotionally as well as financially. Contracting