Irony in "The Jilting of Granny" by Katherine Anne
Irony in "The Jilting of Granny" by Katherine Anne Porter
In the short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (repr. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 8th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2002] 272), Katherine Anne Porter uses irony in her portrayal of Ellen “Granny” Weatherall. Porter uses both dramatic irony and situational irony in Ellen’s life and in her death.
Porter first uses dramatic irony in how Ellen sees herself to be, and how she actually is. Ellen believes herself to be organized, when she is actually a procrastinator. Ellen reflects that, “It was good to have everything clean and folded away…the day started without fuss and the pantry shelves laid out [in] rows…the bronze clock … nicely dusted off.” (274). Yet, for these things, Ellen continuously mentions “tomorrow”. For example, Ellen reflects that, “There was always so much to be done, let me see: tomorrow.” (273), and “The box in the attic with all those letters tied up, well, she’d have to go through that tomorrow.” (274). Now that Ellen’s time of death has arrived, she thinks, “I meant to do something about the Forty Acres … I meant to finish the altar cloth and send six bottles of wine to Sister Borgia …” (280). For her character to believe that she is organized, she has a lot of thoughts concerning “tomorrow”, and concern over the things that are still undone.
Another use of dramatic irony is that Ellen spent so much time preparing for death at sixty years old, and the story is taking place twenty years later. “When she was sixty she had felt very old, finished, and went around making farewell trips to see her children and grandchildren, with a secret in her mind: This is the very last of your mother, children!” (274). Ellen had convinced herself that her time was coming soon. She even made her will. Now, here she is, eighty years old, and finally on her deathbed. Yet, so much time has passed that “she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and unfamiliar.” (274).
Porter uses situational irony to show how Ellen’s religious expectations differ from the fulfillment of her death. As her thoughts dance around, Ellen mentions her husband, John. “Why he couldn’t...