Death and the Author
We all struggle with our own immortality, many authors use death to declare their thoughts and beliefs on what it feels like, and what happens during the process of death. Stories such as Dorothy Richardson’s “Death” and Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, use a stream of conscious narration to get across to the reader that death is different and one in the same for everyone. Richardson and Porter use the stream of consciousness to add depth to their characters, and to tell the story of their characters experiences before dying and their thoughts of their life. Answers.com tells us that the stream of consciousness is a “literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur”.
Richardson’s stream of consciousness is more to the point about death; it states in short sentence bursts the action, the consciousness of death, and the pain that we might go through, mentally and physically. Richardson also express to us, that though we all face death, we are one in the same in the end, we “See no more, Work no more, Worry no more.” (122) and that death is an ending, we all eventually face, “There all in for it, rich and poor alike.”(122) Her character faces all her pains with a clear mind and is lucid throughout her experience. While, Porter’s stream of consciousness of Granny, an 80-year-old woman, in the home of her daughter, reflects about the events in her life as she is on her death bed, her life’s turmoil and accomplishments, and through her ordeal she has sessions of clear moments of lucidness, and moments later she is disoriented. This shows us that in death we can have a mind of lucid thoughts and times of confusion. The authors, Richardson and Porter, also write about the sense of the absence of the body is a normal feeling when death is about to occur. While sick in bed Granny Weatherall who is visited by a young doctor and her family,
Richardson’s stream of consciousness is more to the point about death; it states in short sentence bursts the action, the consciousness of death, and the pain that we might go through, mentally and physically. Richardson also express to us, that though we all face death, we are one in the same in the end, we “See no more, Work no more, Worry no more.” (122) and that death is an ending, we all eventually face, “There all in for it, rich and poor alike.”(122) Her character faces all her pains with a clear mind and is lucid throughout her experience. While, Porter’s stream of consciousness of Granny, an 80-year-old woman, in the home of her daughter, reflects about the events in her life as she is on her death bed, her life’s turmoil and accomplishments, and through her ordeal she has sessions of clear moments of lucidness, and moments later she is disoriented. This shows us that in death we can have a mind of lucid thoughts and times of confusion. The authors, Richardson and Porter, also write about the sense of the absence of the body is a normal feeling when death is about to occur. While sick in bed Granny Weatherall who is visited by a young doctor and her family,
Cited: Porter, Katherine Anne. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”. Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Bubar. 340-347. Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Bubar. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: the traditions in English. -3rd ed. Richardson, Dorothy. “ Death”. Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Bubar. 122-123. Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/stream-of-consciousness Brainy Quote. Death Quotes. 07 March 2012. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_death.html The Free Dictionary. Death. 10 March 2012. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/death The NDE and Intense Emotions. Kevin Williams’ research conclusions, 08 March 2012. http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research25.html