Short Story #238: The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter

By -

Title:  The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Author:  Katherine Anne Porter

Summary

Photo of Katherine Anne Porter: Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Anne_Porter#mediaviewer/File:Katherine_Anne_Porter.jpg
Granny Weatherall is annoyed wtih Doctor Harry who is checking up on her.  She insists there's nothing wrong with her but the doctor  wants to double check.  Weatherall further chides the doctor and before she can send him along, her eyes close automatically.  The doctor and her daughter, Cornelia discuss her condition while she's in this stay of silence.  She speaks to say she should spank Cornelia but no one understands what she is saying.  She continues to shift back into her mind and into the real world with little control.  In her mind, she reflects on her family and growing up and taking care of her children.  Thinking of her children leads her to think of a past love and a man who stood her up on her wedding day.  As she awakes from this revelry, she tries to speak but no words come out.  Cornelia looks to the doctor and Weatherall says she just saw him but Cornelia explains that was morning and it's evening now.  She fades back into her thoughts and recalls the man (George) and wishes someone would seek him out now, sixty years later to tell him that she has lived a good life.  When she comes to again, the priest has arrived to offer confort and confession.  Slowly as Weatherall fades in and out of reality she realizes that she is dying and taht the people are here to spend her last moments with her.  Finally, Weatherall dies.

Reflection

It's a sad tale about dying, intergenerational stress, and trying to understand what one's time on Earth means. Of course, the mother being eighty years old and named "Weatherall" is a hard symbol to miss.  However, there is a toughness about her character that's not to be understated, even in her passing and how she fights it.  

 Short Story #238 out of 365
Rating: 4 (out of 5 stars)
Date Read:  7/23/2014
Source:  The short story can be found at this website.  

For a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.


 Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Short Story #362: The Day The World Almost Came to an End by Pearl Crayton

By -
Image
Title:  The Day The World Almost Came to an EndAuthor:  Pearl CraytonSummary The narrator explains that when she was twelve years old, she was committed to being a sinner.  However, she lived with a family and community whose lives revolved around the Church. One day, her cousin Rena insists that the world is coming to an end because she heard her mom and another woman discussing it and that it would happen with the eclipse that's occurring in two days.  Rena insists but the narrator finds fault with her claims.  However, when a woman comes by affirms what Rena is saying, the narrator becomes lost in thinking about what that could mean for her.  Later when her dad comes home, she asks him if the world is going to end and explains why she is concerned.  He says that it's nothing to worry about and that the world is going to end when it's going to end.  This only convinces the narrator that it will end sooner rather than later.  Unable to be calmed, she stays up all night wor…
Read more

Review: Mistress of Dragons

By -
Image
Mistress of Dragons by Margaret Weis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Note: This review was originally written in the early 2000s and published for a no longer running website: AudiobookCafe. This review is of both the book and the audiobook. Margaret Weis rarely writes novels on her own. She usually co-authors books with Tracey Hickman and Don Perrin. In fact, this is the first book in a series that is strictly her own writing; unlike previous series such as “Dragonlance,” “Darksword,” and “Deathgate Cycle”. On her own, she tells a reliable story that has all the necessary fantasy elements: magic, dragons, kingdoms, fighting, love, and of course, scantily clad women. While her story is formulaic, the tale is still enjoyable with a few interesting twists to keep the listener guessing.

Welcome to Dragonvarld, a world where dragons and humans co-exist only through a truce among the aged dragons who have sworn to interfere with humanity as little as possible. To keep abreast of their actions, the dr…
Read more

Books for White Folks Part 1: The Introduction

By -
Image
We all know that I’m an avid reader (and listener) of books. We also know there are like a bajillion books out there that I want to read.  Seriously, my “To Read” pile grows constantly, no matter how much I read.  A problem of such a burning curiosity is that I have to make decisions about what to read and when I look at the range of topics that my To-Read books covers, it’s a substantial range:

how technology is distracting us (The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley)how Baby-boomers & Generation X have screwed us later generations over (A Generation of Sociopaths by Bruce Gibney)how the gig economy is ruining us (Shadow Work by Craig Lambert)how elite colleges are selling students BS (The Golden Passport by Duff McDonald)Misunderstanding the science of success (Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker)understanding how fear works (Scream by Margee Kerr)creativity in a digital age (The Maker Movement by Mark Hatch)neoliberal economics (Free to Choose by Milton Freedman)understanding …
Read more