Discussion Topic
Granny's most painful memory in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall."
Summary:
Granny's most painful memory in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" is being jilted at the altar by her fiancé, George. This event profoundly affects her throughout her life, causing her lasting emotional pain and influencing her actions and relationships.
What painful memory is "squeezed out" of Granny's heart in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"?
In life and in her dying, Granny is haunted by the memory of her "jilting."
As Granny recalls all her accomplishments in life, she feels a sense of pride that she has been productive. "You waste life when you waste good food," she has told her children. "Don't let things get lost. It's bitter to lose things." This last aphorism of Granny's triggers a memory of what was her greatest loss, and although she tries to prevent it from entering her mind, it is "squeezed out of her heart":
What does a woman do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn't come?
Granny reasons, "He has never harmed me but in that"; however, this loss is one from which Granny cannot recover because her wounded vanity will not permit her to do so. She still wonders...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
how such an abandonment of her could have happened. In fact, this jilting dominates Granny's thoughts even as she approaches death as her sorrow has not been resolved. Granny thinks,
Oh, no, there's nothing more cruel than this—I'll never forgive it.
Before she dies, Granny desires eternal justice in the next life: "God, give me a sign!" With the priest present again as he was when she was rejected at the altar, Granny hopes for retribution as she dies. She wants George to know that she has lived an honorable life and met death with honor as well, but no justice occurs. Her mind repeats "...there's nothing more cruel than this—I'll never forgive it," as the dark clouds of doubt and pain overcome her, and she dies without the "sign" she has requested.
It is her memory of being jilted by the boy named George that is "squeezed out" of Granny's heart. As she drifts in and out of consciousness, Granny is remembering her children, and the life she shared with John, the man she finally married. She tries to stop herself from thinking about this other, bitter thing, but the memory rises up and "would smother her if she tried to hold it". Granny tries to look at the positives in her life, noting that even George "never harmed me but in that...but he had not come, just the same". Despite the fact that she was able to go on afterwards, and admittedly enjoyed a happy life with many blessings, the hurt and humiliation of being left at the altar still rankles.
Which memory is most painful to Granny in 'The Jilting of Granny Weatherall'?
The memory that was most painful to Granny was the day she was jilted by George "...since the day the wedding cake was not cut, but thrown out and wasted." Granny, Ellen, felt like the world had dropped out beneath her, "there she was blind and sweating with nothing under her feet and the walls falling away." On that day she felt as if she was in hell, and now when she thinks of him "the thought of him was a smoky cloud from hell that moved and crept in her head."
As the title suggests, her jilting. (When the wedding didn't happen.)