Symbolism In The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

In the short story” The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, it describes a women named Granny Weatherall who is on her death bed surrounded by her friends and family. As she is laying there she starts to recount the memories of her life and how those events have shaped her life. During her lifetime she describes the many times she was jilted, first by her husband o be and when she finally dies. She also speaks of the good memories that she has had with her children, her husband, and her father that she considers silly. She considers him silly because “Her father had lived to be one hundred and two years old and had a dunk noggin of strong hot toddy on his last birthday. He told the reporters it was his daily habit, and he

It’s hard to understand is the dark imagery is actually from her jilting, how the story revolves around death, or maybe from a deeper loss. In one of the lines in the story “Her bones felt loose, and floated around in her skin,” is symbolic because it shows that Granny is disconnecting from her body as her health is declining. She lying there in bed probably unwilling to accept the fact that her daughter and doctor and trying to tell her she is dying. As the story surrounds death, “Her eyes closed of themselves, it was dark curtain drawn around the bed. The pillow rose and floated under her, pleasant as a hammock in a light wind.” It is almost as if she wants to go finish her unfinished business, but can’t pull herself away from her bed. One of the symbolic meaning in the story is light and dark, meaning light was life and dark was the image of death. This was shown when, “her body was now only a deeper mass of shadow in an endless darkness and this darkness would curl around the light and swallow it up.” The jiltings during her life also had a huge impact on her and shaped her forever especially her last jilting. Her last jilting is during her final moments when God doesn’t give her a sign that she was looking forward to getting and she felt like she should have gotten it. “Again no bride groom and the priest in the house,” this was Granny’s most hurtful jilting. The fact that God didn’t show up and give her a sign left her with the feeling that she wasn’t worthy of being saved and this was considered the ultimate betrayal. The sadness that she felt during that moment is something she says, “she will never forgive