The Jilting
of Granny
Weatherall
Table of Contents
●
Background on the Author and
Book
○
●
Overview of the Story
○
●
Slides 13 through 14
Criticism
○
●
Slides 8 through 12
Critical Overview
○
●
Slides 3 through 7
Slides 15 through 18
Bibliography
○
Slide 19
Background on
the Author and
Book
Author
Biography
Katherine Ann Porter
●
●
Born in Texas in 1890
Died in 1980
Dealt with death as a child
●
●
Mother died when she was 2 years old
Grandmother died when she was 11
Successes
●
Writing
○
1966-1968
Porters Writing Style
●
●
Stories include many literary devices
○ Symbolism
○ The use of memory
Porter on her style…
○ “I don't believe in style. The style is
you. Your style is an emanation from
your own being.”
Style of the Short Story
●
Stream-of-Consciousness Narration
○
○
○
○
Written in third person
Story shows us...
■ Grandmas thoughts
■ Grandmas confusion
■ Grandmas Awareness
Past is triggered by present
Unique Narration Technique
●
Christianity
○
○
Christianity example
■ Crucifix
■ Rosemary
■ Candle
Asks for God's Help
■ Help never comes
Background of the Story
●
The Short Story
○
○
○
Publications
■
First publication in February, 1929
■
transitions magazine
Porters Health
■
In 1918, the flu nearly killed her
■
Had ‘beatific vision’
The Stories Future
■
Has been popular from publication
●
Time Period (1929)
○
○
Stock Market Crash
■
Occurred in October
■
Started the Great Depression
Women's Role
■
Gained right to vote
■
Took a bigger role in society
Overview of the
Story
Plot Summary
An Eighty year old
grandma is at her
death bed.
Start of Story
Her children are taking
care of her as she
accepts death.
Then Grandma then
thinks about her past
life.
Death takes the old
grandma and her last
thought is of George.
End of Story
She doesn't have all
her affairs in order, and
is not prepared for
death.
Characters
●
Ellen Weatherall
○
○
●
George
○
○
●
Ellen's favorite daughter
John
○
●
Left Ellen at the altar crying
Ellen still thinks about him
Hapsy
○
●
Main Character
Thoughts tell the Story
Husband of Ellen
Children of Ellen
○
Cornelia, Lydia, and Jimmy
Themes
●
Betrayal
○
○
Granny was betrayed by…
■ Haspy
■ George
Jilted by George and Hapsy
■ George-still thinks of him on her
deathbed
■ Hapsy- calls out her name in vain
●
Religion
○
Betrayal god
■ faces spiritual crisis
■ Father Connoly
■ left alone with priest on wedding day
Critical
Overview
Critical Overview
●
The story did amazingly good
○
○
●
All reviews were good
○
○
●
Critics praised her
Other authors praised her
Porter was compared to Hemingway
Stories captured cultures
Porter’s strongest and most interesting
work
Criticism
Elisabeth Piedmont-Morton (Structure and Theme)
●
Structure and Theme of her stories
○
Says Porter’s stories take place in the interior being
■
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is certainly one of these
interior stories, as Porter uses Ellen Weatherall’s fragile state of
mind as a narrative device to connect past and present and the
living and the dead.”
■
“Readers are able to travel along with Ellen Weatherall as her
memories slip in and out of the present time during the course
of the story. This narrative technique, called
stream-of-consciousness, allows the writer to abandon the
ordinary constraints of time and space, and invites the reader
to enter into the consciousness of the character. “
I
Barbara Laman (Hapsy)
●
Insight into Hapsy
○
○
○
Believes that she receives the sign of death,
■
not from god, but from the absence of Hapsy
■
Hapsy disappoints just like George
Instead of accepting her death
Granny engages in a futile contest with an absent male
god
■
Her apparent loss of faith
■
Her doubts as to whether she will find Hapsy again
are of little consequence
Daniel R. Barnes and Madeline T. Barnes
●
Granny Secret Pregnancy
○
○
●
Story drops hints
○
○
●
Granny and George had Baby
Baby most likely be Hapsy
Mistaking pain for labor
John saved her from shame, but not guild
Disclaimer, this is an interesting Theory, but
we disagree