Betrayel even in death
...was a smoky cloud from hell that moved and crept in her head . . . ." (McMahan, Day, and Funk 234) Even now, in death her thoughts return to an incident that occurred more than sixty years earlier. Ironically, at the end Granny Weatherall is betrayed again when the final sign she's been waiting for from Jesus never appears. "For the second time there was no sign. Again no bridegroom and the priest in the house . . . She stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light."(McMahan, Day, and Funk 237). This theme of what she perceives as betrayal seems to follow her throughout her lifetime. Porter links death and jilting by describing a difficult life that was full of hardships and pitfalls that ultimately shaped her into a headstrong, outgoing woman, who raised a large family after the passing of her husband John at a young age. “She used to think of him as a man, but now all the children were older than their father, and he would be a child beside her if she saw him now.”(McMahan, Day, and Funk 233). She also finally has made peace with herself about George and feels that his jilting her actually was for the best when she says: “Find him and be sure to tell him I forgot him… a good husband that I loved and fine children out of him. Better than I had hoped for even. Tell him I was given back everything he took away and more.”(McMahan, Day, and Funk 235) Granny envisions Father Connolly as her future hope. “She had her secret comfortable understanding with a few favorite saints who cleared a straight road to God for her.” (McMahan, Day, and Funk 235). Now it seems all her unpleasant memories are flooding out of her. Porter highlights Granny’s strong Catholic faith when she writes: “for sixty years she had prayed against remembering George, against losing her soul in the deep pit of hell” (McMahan, Day, and Funk 233) All the while that little voice on her shoulder reminded her: “Wounded vanity, Ellen, said a sharp voice in the top of her mind. Do not let wounded vanity get the upper hand of you. Plenty of girls get jilted” (McMahan, Day, and Funk 234) As Granny Weatherall’s life literally “flashes” before her eyes, ...