Essay The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall and A Worn Path

The final theme of memory is shown as Granny weaves in and out of reality and memories of her past. She seems to find strength from being left at the alter and then finds comfort in the memories of her late husband, John, and her children. The memories of the other man make her a bit uneasy with thoughts that her children would find the letters in the attic. There is one moment that she actually wants to tell her daughter to find George and “be sure and tell him I forgot him.”

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter are short stories written in the twentieth century. The main characters in both stories were motivated by love and perseverance to keep going and never give up. Phoenix Jackson is likened to the Mythological Phoenix bird that dies at an old age and is then reborn in ashes. Phoenix Jackson is an elderly woman who is travels a lot just to accomplish one goal. She overcame a lot of obstacles and she never gave up and she always stood up for herself. Katherine’s The Jilting of Granny Weatherall also has Granny Weatherall as the main character who is portrayed to be in denial and also very sick on her deathbed.

After she takes a nap in a ditch a hunter comes by and helps her but ends up threatening her with his gun.  Danger can come from anywhere, as the hunter shows in this instance, but Phoenix does a good job of taking care of the dangers and not getting hurt herself.

Comparing A Worn Path by Eudora Welty and A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner

The themes can be interpreted similarly; both poems are telling people to live life to the fullest. “Lucinda Matlock” is an example of what life could be if one really wants to enjoy it, but “George Gray” is an example of what not to do in life. George eventually realizes that he cannot be scared to be outgoing if he wants to enjoy life; he wants the life Lucinda lives. George is too terrified to go after it. These two poems describe two foil characters. They have a similar basis, but they are mostly opposites. These differences are what makes the themes similar. Another similarity in these poems is the titles. The titles, which are also the people’s names, describe the lives they led. Lucinda is a unique and different name and so was her life. George is a basic, common name, and Gray describes his dull and gloomy

He knocks her over, and a hunter comes to help her up. Even though the hunter is helpful, he is somewhat threatening. He then drops a nickel in which Phoenix picks it up without him noticing. Then he points a gun at her, and she stood straight and faced him when he did so. When he asked if she was afraid of the gun, she replied, "No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done" (DiYanni). The hunter even replied that she is scared of nothing, and she goes on her way. "Her perception of these obstacles emphasizes her intense physical, mental, and moral effort to complete this journey" (Heller). Phoenix is brave physically because she had to climb over logs, through thorn bushes, and a barbed-wire fence. She is brave mentally, because she can stay calm while in stressful situations like having a gun pointed to her face. She really cares about her grandson, and that motivates her to stay strong for him and to make it through these rough

Ultimately, Granny Weatherall shows herself to be an independant and strong-willed woman. However, "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" does not focus on Granny's exterior beng, but rather her interior thoughts and emotions. This personal and in-depth characterization of Granny reveals that her need to be completely independant is the result of being abandoned at an altar by a man she loved. As a young adult, Granny let down her guard in order to communicate her unadulterated love for George. The act of George rejecting Granny's vulnerability caused her intense pain, leaving her "blind and sweating with nothing under her feet and the walls falling away."

He just left five minutes ago." (p.1490) Later on, she continues her denial when Cornelia calls on a priest to offer Granny her last rights. When the priest arrives, she would not speak to him. She said, "I went to Holy Communion only last week. Tell him I’m not so sinful as all that." (1491) As Granny’s life was winding down with only minutes remaining, she finally began to show signs that she accepted what was happening to her. She bagan remembering those who were important to her and dividing her possesions among family members. Porter shows a loving side to Granny Weatherall that endears her to the audience before she is wisked away from the land of the living. It is reminiscint of The Flannery O’Connor story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Misfit has just executed a fast-talking grandmother. One of his evil cohorts offers that she was "a real talker." The Misfit interjects that "She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody to shoot her every minute of her life." So it is with Granny Weatherall, at her best while near the bitter end. The Jilting of Granny Weatherall gives us a brief overview of mortality. Porter gives us slightly deeper insight into self pity and the acceptance of death. Granny Weatherall’s actions and thoughts give the reader an idea of how it feels as life draws to a close. Porter suggests that by succeeding in dying well, one can leave

They both had a different financial status and family upbringing but there mental state is the same. In A Worn Path, Phoenix was faced with several problems but she still managed to get the medicine for her grandchild no matter problems she faced along the way.

The story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, was about a sick elderly woman recalling occasion from her life before she dies. Granny Weatherall is the main character of the story who is about eighty years old and is on her deathbed. She remembrances events from her life such as how she was jilted at the alter and how her husband dies young. George was the man who left Granny alone at the altar. John her husband died young, leaving her with many children to care for. Cornelia the daughter of Granny was the primary caretaker of her, she was very loving and caring for her mother. Doctor Harry is the doctor looking after Granny, but he talks to her in a condescending way. Porter writes “I’d have you respect your elders,

Phoenix shows determination by getting by all of these obstacles and getting to town. Her determination to get to town shows that she would not let anything get in the way of something she knows she must do.

On the surface, William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and Katherine Ann Porter’s The Jilting of Granny Weatherall do not give the feeling of having any resemblances. After reading both stories, both the protagonist showed a lot of similarities. In other words, the plots, settings, and themes can be different, Miss Emily and Granny Weatherall have similar, yet different personalities which allows them to handle their similar situations differently. They are both independent women, awfully stubborn, and a man plays an important role in both their lives.

Phoenix communicates with everything she encounters. This symbolizes her love despite the difficulties she is facing. When we find out at the end of the story why Phoenix is going to town, it shows her love even more. It is also significant that Phoenix has a good sense of humor. She is able to laugh at herself, which states that she is a content person. Every difficulty she faces she just laughs and overcomes it. Another reason she is communicating with the things she encounters is that she fills that she does not have a voice when talking to anyone else.

In the end we figure that Phoenix may be on a journey that really does not exist. We find out that maybe the grandson isn’t alive and that he has been dead for weeks. Whether or not Phoenix was aware she did not let life bring her down, whatever she was set to do she did and with great perseverance she has achieved her goal.

Phoenix lived in a society where racism was still running strong. Yet she faced and dealt with that every day of her life. As an African-American slave, she would have toil in the fields, wondering if she would still be alive by the time the sun was setting. Phoenix is visible shaken with a run a scarecrow she believed to be a ghost. She says to image, "'Ghost,' she said sharply, 'who be you the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by” (Welty 24).Slave mothers would often show that same fear as they watched the shadows return from the field; wondering if their loved ones were still alive or was going to come home unharmed. Phoenix faced those same fears as a mother and grandmother. If Phoenix was caught in the