THE JILTING OF GRANNY WEATHERALL

SUMMARY
Granny Weatherall lies in her bed and Doctor Harry examines her, but she doesn’t want to be examined. She thinks him for too young to be a real doctor, she believes that she is not sick. There are two man and her children for her during her lifetime. She remembers her first love, George who jilts her just before the wedding. During the story she remembers him because she thinks that he betrayed her. She wants him to know she is happy:”I want to find George. Find him and be sure telling him I forgot him. I want him to know I had my husband just the same and my children and my house like any other woman.” Later she marries John Whoom she has many children. One of them called Hapsy passes away and she reminisces him throughout the story.
While she is in her bad, she thinks death. Although she prepares herself for death, she doesn’t want to ponder death. Twenty years ago, she had assumed she was going to die but she wasn’t. She calls her children and looks back on their old days her old days were hand but enjoyable. She cooked, cleaned and sewed for them. While she is thinking these, she forgets everything and begins to hallucinate. She assumes as it all her old days are today. Her mind makes old memories seem as if it is today. Then she turns today and talks with Cornelia and doctor. Granny wants to see Hapsy and in her mind she finds her. When she is about to kiss her, Cornelia calls her. But Granny continues her mind travel, and this time, she thinks George. Suddenly she feels herself very tired and she suffers. She thinks hat death has come.
The priest arrives and Granny feels herself good. She knows that God will help her. She has felt this feeling since George jilted her. She talks with her children but they don’t understand her. Granny realizes that she is in extremis but she surprises because there are many things to do for her. Cornelia begins to sob. Granny tells her: “I am not going, Cornelia. I am taken by surprise. I can’t go.”
Granny wants God to give her a sign but God doesn’t. There is not bridegroom again. She has angst and she forget her other sorrows. She says:”Oh, no, there’s nothing crueller than this. I’ll never forgive it. She breaths deep and blows out the light.
POINT OF VIEW
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall is told by a third person narration. It is understood from that “She and he said” but using of stream of consciousness technique, we learn her all feelings and thoughts as if she talked to us. This point of view draws readers into the mind of Weatherall.
The author uses “stream of consciousness and by means of this technique we can understood thoughts, memories and associating of Granny’s mind. Moreover it helps us to see Granny’s confused and clear thoughts, disappointments, and feelings. By using the stream of consciousness technique, the author portrays Granny’s relationships with George, John, Hapsy, Cornelia and her other children and the author.
THE SETTING
The place is the bedroom where Granny Weatherall is dying. Time is the last day in the eighty-years-old woman’s life.
CHARACTERS
Granny: She is old and sick woman. She lives both today and past. Because she is jilted by her fiancé, she suspicious of everything and other people. According to her, she is jilted even God. She marries another man and he dies. She has many children and one of whom passes away. All these difficult experiences forced her to be strong. She prepares herself to die before but when it really comes, she is in surprise. At the end she dies.
IRONIES
1. When doctor examines Granny, she is angry with him because she thinks she is healthy. Although she lies on her death bed she says “I am not sick.” This is irony.
2. Although she died when she was eighty years old, she had prepares herself for death when she was sixty. But she was in surprise as she knew she would die. This is dramatic irony.
3. Through the story, Granny keeps her religious beliefs although she has to cope with many difficult problems. At the end of the story, while she is about to die is in a moment of doubt and say “God, give a sign!”
THEME
There are two themes one of which is self-pity and the other is the acceptance of death. Granny is abandoned by George on her wedding day and she suffers a lot because of this. She can not forget this painful experience. She is even jilted by God. When she was about the die, said “God, give a sign!” But God does not give a sign and she is jilted twice. As a result she becomes a woman who is suspicious of everyone. For example when Cornelia and doctor were whispering together, Granny said Cornelia: “Go away and don’t whisper” These show her self-pity.
After this story is read, is should be understood that death is unpredictable thing, in other words it is not important weather you are ready to die or not. By means of this story, people perceive death and mortality.