Introduction: Porter’s short story, The Jilting of Granny Witherall, portrays a frustrated old woman who is bitter and filled with regret over her life’s struggles and disappointments. After a life filled with hard physical labor, childbirth, illness, and a jilting, Granny Witherall remains a frustrated old woman.
Example: We see Granny’s bitter resentment at her hard life when she says “She had fenced in a hundred acres once, digging the post holes herself and clamping the wires with just a negro boy to help. That changed a woman. John would be looking for a young woman with the peaked Spanish comb in her hair and the painted fan” (Porter 5). As a result of this thinking, we see that Granny is bitter that her hard life has caused her to be grow old and unattractive and no longer desirable to men.
Illustration: We see many people like Granny today who have lived long and worked hard and become bitter because they resent how rough life for them was, especially once they recognize they are old and worn like Granny.
Example: We also see Granny’s frustration and bitterness when she interacts with her doctor. Granny has little time or patience for doctors, and she thinks they are so much nonsense for a woman who has always pulled through everything like herself without any help “Leave a well woman alone. I’ll call for you when I want you…Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk leg and double pneumonia? You weren’t even born…I pay my own bills, and I don’t throw my money away on nonsense” (Porter 7).
Illustration: Therefore, it is obvious from the above reaction to her doctor that Granny is a frustrated old woman who takes her frustration out on those around her, as we see many frustrated people do in everyday life. Many people react in a hostile manner to those around them when they are frustrated and bitter like Granny.
...