Symbolism In The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

“Uncertainty of Control”

In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” her name, weatherall, or seen as weathered by it all, shows that she has been through everything, especially through times of doubt oruncertainty. Granny Weatherall is a very controlling woman;however, she comes to realize there are many things that she cannot control. She also believes that she has lived a very happy life, however, when she is starting to die, she realizes that there are many things that she wishes she could change. Granny Weatherall is very uncertain of many things throughoutthe story. One of the main things she is uncertain aboutis whether or not she is dying. She tells the doctor to “get along and doctor your sick…leave a well womanalone” (203). In her mind, she is not going to die because she has not planned or it. She says she still has a ton of things to get done so it cannot be her time to pass away. However, death is something that she cannot control, just like George leaving her at the altar. As she is trying to get some rest, the memory of George comes back to her, “what does a women do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn’t care?...but a whirl of dark smoke
rose and covered it, crept up and over into the bright field where everything was planted so carefully in orderly rows.
That was hell, she knew hell when she saw it. For sixty years she had prayed against
remembering him and against losing her soul in the deep pit of hell” (206). This shows that she is still very bitter about George leaving her at the altar and still very confused by it. The main reason for this confusion is because this was something that she did not plan and did not have anycontrol over. When the text says she was dreaming of a “bright field where everything was planted so carefully in orderly rows,” it shows that she likes to have order in her life, and that George messed up this order. The story uses many literary tools to help the readers realize that Granny Weatherall does not like uncertainty and that she is still uncertain of thingsto come. In the last paragraph, the story uses imagery to describe how Granny Weatherall really feels. “For the second time there was no sign. Again no bridegroom and the priestin the house. She could not remember any other sorrow because this grief wiped them all away. Oh, no, there’s nothing more cruel than this—I’ll never forgive it. She stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light” (209). Here she is referring back to her first jilting of when there was no groom and only the priest was there. However, this time she is referring to her death, which she has no control over, and she is now coming to this realization. This imagery of being left at the altar for the second time, shows she is scared that she is being jilted again. However, this time by God, which she is more hurt by than any other thing that has everhappened to her. She now realizes that she has no control over her life, which really scares her.