Discussion Topic
The significance of the surname "Weatherall" for Granny in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"
Summary:
The surname "Weatherall" in Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" symbolizes Granny's resilience and endurance through life's challenges. The name reflects her ability to "weather" various storms, both literal and metaphorical, throughout her life. This includes overcoming personal challenges like being jilted at the altar and managing family responsibilities after her husband's death. Despite her tough exterior, her inner turmoil, particularly from past traumas, contrasts with the strength implied by her surname.
In "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall", how does the name 'Weatherall' relate to Granny's life?
The descriptions of nature or weather in the story reflect Granny Weatherall's state of mind. The morning of her death her bed felt "pleasant as a hammock in a light wind". However, as she nears her death, "a fog rose over the valley, she saw it marching across the creek swallowing the trees and moving up the hill like an army of ghosts. Soon it would be at the near edge of the orchard." The fog represents her loss of alertness as she nears death, which is the orchard. The fog swallows the trees representing the fogginess that is covering her consciousness; the fog moves like ghosts; this image represents her impending death.
The descriptions of nature/weather also mirrors the day of her supreme disappointment. Before she is jilted, there is a pleasant description of nature which represents her hope for the future "such a fresh breeze blowing and such a green day with no threats in it." However, after...
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her fiance jilts her, the light of day is diminished as a "whirl of dark smoke rose and covered it, crept up and over into the bright field."
When Granny is on her final journey toward death, she rode in the cart and looked "down the road where the trees leaned over and bowed to each other and a thousand birds were singing a Mass." Here she is entering her final state of eternal spirituality
Weather is always changeable. It is unpredictable, and just blows through lives. Think of all the things she remembers about her life; she's been through a lot of weather.
But there's a more direct meaning as well. To "weather" is to get through—to stand up to something, like a barn that lasts through a storm. Granny has weathered a lot. In fact, she's weathered all. She's tough and has been through lots, and that's exactly what her name tells us.
Greg
Why is "Weatherall" an appropriate surname for Granny in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"?
Granny Wetherall has encountered many challenges during her long, hard life. One might say she's weathered many storms. Whatever life's thrown at her, she's always managed to get through it—outwardly, at least. Because inside she's been tormented by the traumatic events of that terrible day, many years before, when she was left standing at the altar by her would-be bridegroom. That such a defining moment in her life preoccupies and torments Granny Weatherall on her deathbed makes a mockery of her name, with all its connotations of strength and the tough public persona she's developed through years of hard struggle.
For although the old woman's surname may be appropriate for how she's lived her life, for the public face of indomitability and flinty resolve she's presented to the world, it's woefully inadequate to describe her inner life, the depths of her tortured soul.
As she lies on her deathbed, Ellen "Granny" Weatherall reflects on her life. She is a woman around eighty who has faced many challenges.
She remembers her daughter Lidia coming to her for parenting advice and her son Jimmy asking her for business advice. She thinks of her late husband, John, and how she would like to point to their children and tell him that she has done a good job of raising them on her own. Granny Weatherall calls to mind the endless sewing and cooking she did for her family and how she took on the farm chores after John's death. She recollects memories of sick people that she nursed as well as her own serious illnesses. A particularly painful memory for her is that of the disappointment of being jilted on her wedding day by a man named George. She also thinks of her daughter Hapsy who has died.
What Katherine Anne Porter meant in naming her "Weatherall" is that she is an aged woman who has faced life's challenges head on and weathered all of them.