While minimal in its context, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is very difficult and complicated in its meaning. Written in a technique known as stream of consciousness the story is difficult to be understood from the first time and required careful and attentive reading. Overall the story tells of an old woman on her deathbed recollecting some memories from her past, which are important to understand her personality.
Granny has been stood up years ago by a man on their wedding day, he did not show up at the altar. She married nevertheless, had four children and seemed to be happy, even though she had lost her husband when he was still young and had to bring up children all by herself. She never complained and she never broke down; she had endured everything life offered her, but each of these events left a mark on her character, making her harsher.
A blurry curtain between what is happening now and what has happened before is very thin, and sometimes it is not clear. The author managed to get into one’s mind, into those faraway chambers of memory and to reveal importance of events which had been essential in granny’s becoming a personality.
