Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" is a story of a woman who lives a long life of eighty years. She is living with her daughter and is on her death bed when the story opens. She is surrounded by her family, her doctor, and a priest. Ellen fades in and out of consciousness, remembering her life and that fateful day she was jilted by George, her first love. .
Ellen Weatherall was jilted by her lover, George, at the young age of twenty. She later married a man named John, raised a family, and lived her life. Even after all those years full of good times and caring for a family she never forgot being stood up at the alter all those years ago. Granny is being jilted again sixty years later. She is on her death bed, remembering the first jilting, her life, and how the death of her husband, George, made her a hard woman. In paragraph 29, she thinks back to the jilted day and remembers "a fresh breeze blowing and such a green day with no threats in it. But he had not come, just the same." She also remembers asking herself "What does a woman do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man who doesn't come?" She thinks of how she waited for George, her bridegroom, and how he never showed up. Cake was wasted and a priest waited to marry Ellen and George. She acts as though she got over George jilting her. Sixty years later, she is waiting again along with a priest. Ellen is waiting for another bridegroom. She is waiting for a sign from God to let her know she is dying. There are so many things running through Granny's mind of what needs to be done in Paragraphs 49 - 60. She is constantly thinking about signing over the land to one of her children, and who to give what to. Just as George never showed up to be her bridegroom, God never shows up her a sign and is her bridegroom jilting her again. George never entered her house to lead her to married life sixty years ago.
