Granny’s Personalities in The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter Essay Example

were jilted, weren't you. Then stand up for it"(Porter408), she did stand up for it, and she survives.

Secondly, Granny Weatherall does not like to be a burden for someone, she likes to be an independent woman as she used too. She feels that having an independence will empowered her, "Sometimes Granny almost made up her mind to pack up and move back to her own house where nobody could remind her every minute that she was old"(Porter 406). She used to do errands around the house and helps her children in need, "In her day she had kept a better house and had got more work done. She wasn't too old yet for Lydia to be driving for advice..."(Porter407). She thinks of having the independence that she used to have will make her worth as a person.

Furthermore, Granny Weatherall values her religiosity as the most important aspect in her live. In sickness or health, she never forgets her belief. One of her prayer "God, for all my life I thank Thee, my God, I could never have done it. Hail, Mary, full of grace"(Potter 407), her prayer is a reflection of her faith, and it is one of the reason that keep her strong all the times. Being respectful to a priest is another example of her religiosity, "Cornelia, where are your manners? Give Father Connolly a chair."(Porter 409). This part of her personality is never change in her life.

Besides the good qualities, there are negative personalities. The first one is her irritability and bad temper. This trait comes out whenever she is dealing with other people, such as

her daughter and her physician, " The brat ought to be in knee breeches. Doctoring around the country with spectacles in his nose, 'Get along now, take your school books and go. There's nothing wrong with me.'"(Potter 405). She does not like to be bothered by someone. She really wants some peacefulness where she can rethink and flashback about the good memories of her children. But then, sometimes, the bad memory interferes her reminiscence, especially about her first failed marriage and her lost daughter, Hapsy.

Her lost daughter lead to another example of her most prominent negative aspect of her personality, which is the hate she has for her current children. Because of the memory of Hapsy is fixed in her memory, She is having a dysfunctional grief about her daughter. She could not accept the reality that Hapsy is gone. She always waiting for Hapsy arrival, she even mistaken her daughter, Lydia, as Hapsy, "'Is that you, Hapsy?' 'Oh, no I'm Lydia. We drove as fast as we could'''(porter410). Near her death, Granny seems to see Hapsy in the room with a white costume to take her. This illusion , about Hapsy, occupies Granny's mind. Because of this, she despise her other children, even Cornelia who is always there and taking care of her.

With this given personalities in a character, readers can become very descriptive and interpretative about the story. Each piece of Granny's personality intertwines with each other and unites with Granny character. The personalities contained in Granny Weatherall makes her character very interesting and alive.