Final Hours
“I’d have you respect your elders young man.” This is Granny Weatherall’s response to the doctor after he calmly orders her to be a good girl (124). In the story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, Granny is on her deathbed reminiscing of the hard life she has endured and wants nothing more than a little respect as she fades into her final restful sleep. In the story Granny has overcome many things in her life that show how she is a very strong, independent, and dissatisfied elderly woman.
One of Granny’s characteristics is her strength. It has brought her through many tribulations in her life. For instance the time she was left at the altar by a man she loved very much, but she relies on her faith and remembers that he will have his dealings with the Lord one day. Granny also had to grieve the loss of a child, along with the pressure of raising five other well rounded children, but she manages to press forward. She asked the doctor at her bedside, “Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk leg and double pneumonia?” (124).Granny states this to remind everyone of her strength and reassuring them that she would be just fine.
A second example of Granny’s characteristics is how through her strength she has also become a very independent woman. Reminiscing of her past Granny says “Digging post holes changed a woman” as did “sitting up nights with sick horses and sick negroes and sick children and hardly ever losing one” (126). Granny always managed to keep up with her errands. She did all the cooking, washing and sewing of clothes, and also grew her own garden. As Granny tries to drown out the noise of her own children talking about her as if she is already dead, she begins to think about all the things in her life that she has yet to accomplish.
The final characteristic Granny shows is when she realizes how dissatisfied she is with all the things she has left to do and the way she is being treated by...