Granny’s hard knock life In Katherine Anne Porter’s short story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” there is a vivid picture of an elderly woman’s last moments and storm of mentality on her death bed. The story is shown as a stream of consciousness in which granny remembers the grievances she had throughout her life. This making it obvious to the reader that she has had not one, or two, but three jilting in her life that has affected her character through the last shreds of her life. Her past love George, the death of her husband John, and the absence of god on her death bed, all affected granny’s life and personality. The first pitiable jilting of Granny Weatherall was done at the altar by a man named George who she once was deeply in love with; this jilting affected her life in many ways.
They wake her up early and help her stretch her legs in hope that they will one day be straight/normal. They showed the compassion that her birth mother would never give to her child. Linda later recalls, “I must have been held so much that the sensation became a part of me”(65). Fifty years later when Linda and her mother Nancy finally meet for dinner, they don’t hug or even shake hands. The mother may be the birth mother and be related by blood but she sure doesn’t show any love toward her handicapped daughter that she abandoned.
Anna loved her sister and would do anything for her even if it meant refusing a procedure that could possible save her sisters life. Upon Kate’s request Anna refused the kidney transplant and all other procedures. Anna realized at a young age she was very special, she was not like the rest of the children her age. Whenever her sister got sick and had to go to the hospital, so did Anna, however, she was not sick but she was admitted anyway. She was admitted so her sister’s doctors could quickly use what they needed from her.
There are some red flags in the plot that illegitimatizes this as genuine love. If the reader looks at Mabel and her situation before the moment of love is mentioned, he/or she should consider the fact that Mabel is a broke woman of a whole 27yrs. with no future prospects to keep her afloat. The time and place she attempted suicide was in broad daylight. The man she fell so hard in love with just so happens to be a Doctor with a stable income.
“It came into my head that I cannot run away. I am who I am wherever I am”. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman is about a 14 year old girl who's father, the lord, wants to marry her off to a rich old man with lots of land. Catherine wants to just get away from the lady life and escape, but is always held in place by her pregnant mother, and her always nagging nurse/maid Morwenna. In Catherine, Called Birdy, many women gave Birdy advice but she never really listenened to them, but when she did, she made a decision that changed her life forever.
The Mirabel sisters proved in their lives and their deaths that committed individuals can make a difference. These women realized that their families shouldn't have to live in the current situation and wanted change. They gave up what was important in their lives for their cause. When Patria loses her baby she also loses her hope from the church and seeks an agent for change. Because the current political and church system couldn't provide that hope she joined the revolution to try and change the system.
Two characters that could be portrayed as victims of society are Curley’s wife from ‘’Of Mice and Men’’ and Eva Smith from ‘’An Inspector Calls’’. Both characters are really similar to each other; they are young and both wanting a better life. Eva Smith lost both parents and lost her last two jobs because her boss thrown her just because she argued for a bigger pay for the workers who puts in so much effort. Gerald helped her with everything but Gerald chose Sheila instead, because she was richer. Eva had no choice as she was pregnant and she couldn’t get a job so she killed herself in a dramatic way.
Both marriages are restricting, and challenge the protagonists’ concept of self and individuality. In “The Story of an Hour”, Louise Mallard gets the news of her husband’s death from her sister and her husband’s friend. She quickly retreats to the privacy of her own room which her companions believe is to grieve in solitude. In actuality, she shows the reader that she is finally confronting the wasted days of her life, and through that realizes that she has been given a second chance. She reflects on her marriage and we find that, although it was a good one, her husband never knew how unhappy his wife was.
I wanted to be at her bedside, wrapped up in her arms, I wanted to be there to see her breathe her last breath, but now it is too late , she is gone. My tears flowed continuously, especially in the night as I try to comprehend this sorrow As I took the flight back home, I was solemn and grief stricken, In the past I have always been happy coming home to granny, but not this time. I know that I would not see that vibrant looking little lady again , but would see a lifeless corpse in a casket, not a sound of her beautiful voice. I felt so cold inside; so many things I wanted to say to her, all the hugs I needed and wanted, and many, many regrets I’ve had. I wanted to be comforted.
One side is that her husband’s death, she supposes to be sad, however, the other side is without her husband’s control, she could start her new life. She is afraid of adopt new life without her husband. “She said it over and over under her breath: ‘Free, free, free!” she comfort and encourage herself to meet new life. In the end of the story, Chopin writes that Brently Mallard still alive and Mrs. Mallard died because of the joy. It is so ironic that Mrs. Mallard only enjoys the joyful in her life only one hour.