The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter

The protagonist, Ellen Weatherall, is an elderly woman who is about to die. The setting is in her home bedroom as she recalls her life. The story is written in the third person and told through stream of consciousness by the way the protagonist's life is told. The jilting granny (protagonist) refers to is how her first love, George, left her at the altar, her husband, John, died young leaving her to care for her children and work on her own and at the end when she does not see a sign from God warning her of her death. The last name Weatherall is significant in how she has weathered all types of things throughout her life and still wants to keep going. George is the ironic part of Ellen's life. He was the cause of her jilting and her way of not dealing with him and making herself not show her hurt inside caused more jilting as the years went by. The theme of the story is one of denial. Ellen denies the fact that she is about to die. She was ready for death twenty years ago, not now when she has so much to do "tomorrow".


I thought this story to be sad and depressing. I would not like to be in her shoes. The fact that she is in denial about dying and still has lots to do is what makes it even sadder. Granny says she still has a lot to do “tomorrow” but she does not have the chance to do any of it. It seems as she lived a somewhat comfortable life but she was not happy and she had to work very hard and by herself for that life. She dies sadly too. She is jilted in how she dies and that is very depressing. It is like she can never win, not even in how she dies. It makes you really think that life is really short and to never leave things for “tomorrow”.