Granny Weatherall Character's Analysis and Development

Granny Weatherall is a very complex character. She is a very complex person because she has different layers of issues. There are surface level problems that everyone can see. Then there is the inner level and the core level. The inner level is the cause of the pain. The core is the innermost level. It’s the part that explains the main reason Granny Weatherall is the way she is and why she does what she does. Every person has a story, including Granny Weatherall. Ever since the beginning of the story, the reader is informed how Granny is. It is obviously very important that the reader understands what Granny is all about right off the bat.

On the outside, Granny was not the nicest person. Granny has a tendency to be snappy and short-tempered with Doctor Harry and her daughter Cornelia. She refused to get help from the doctor and just wished he would leave her alone. “Get along now, take your schoolbooks and go. There’s nothing wrong with me.” (Pg. 56) This is the first thing Granny says in the story. “-But I’d be happy if they’d let me lie in peace and get rested.” (Pg. 60) She clearly had no intention of trying to get along with the doctor. As for Cornelia, she doesn’t want her to be helping. Granny wants to be strong and not admit to needing help. So she pushes Cordelia away too. “I want a lot of things. First off, go away and don’t whisper.” (Pg. 57) These statements made by Granny show that she is very closed off and would rather keep to herself. This is because problems more serious than being aggravated by a doctor and her daughter.

Granny’s complexities stem from George, her ex-fiancé. The past events with George caused Granny to be extremely bitter. The memory of him leaving her at the altar still burns in Granny’s brain forever. Watching the one you love walk away is a traumatic experience. It changes a woman, just like it changed Granny. Unfortunately, she changed for the worst. She tries to cover up her pain with a rough exterior. She tells her daughter Cordelia to “Find him and be sure to tell him I forgot him...Tell him I was given back everything he took away and more.”(Pg. 61) This quote proves that she truly is not over George and has not forgotten the past. The fact that George is what Granny is thinking about in her last moments of life is just more proof of her pain. Even though she later found John and married him, George never left her mind. No matter how much it may have hurt, she never forgot her first love. He had a hold on her. When she said “Something not given back…” she was realizing that he never loved her back. For years, she tried to forget him and what he had done to her. It didnt work. Granny just wanted to be loved by him. He couldn’t even give her that. This caused her to have lasting effect in her future. She always longed for his affection. She compared her husband John to George.

Now, the core of the problem is revealed when Granny says things such as “But I can’t. It’s not my time. Oh, I always hated surprises.”(Pg. 63) Granny was not the most optimistic about life, that anyone could blame her for that. Unfortunately for Granny, not only did she hate surprises but she was forced to experience them often. “For the second time there was no sign.”(Pg. 63) These two quotes together prove that Granny died bitter. She was taken by surprise with no warning. For her, not having a warning really hits home. The fact that Granny hated surprises but died as a result of surprise pure irony. Especially after what happened with George. Now this time, she has no warning before death. Her last wish was to God praying for a sign. “God, give a sign!” (Pg. 63) Looking back on life, she wished she had gotten a sign, some forewarning that George would leave her. Now she wished she had a sign for when life was going to leave her. The root of all these complexities is Granny herself. She has a hard time admitting the truth. She hides her feelings because it’s easier. She denied her health declining because it made her feel weak. She denied that it was her time to die because it made her feel out of control. She didn’t want to accept any responsibility for the pain and anguish she has felt for the past sixty years. She will find any reason to blame another person. She blamed the doctor and Cordelia for annoying her in bed while she was trying to rest. She blamed George for ruining her. The reality is that Granny caused her own misery by holding on to the bad moments in life and not the good. All the anger and angst in Granny’s life is why the author chose to have Granny die in the exact opposite way she wanted to go.

Overall, Granny Weatherall is a bitter, dying woman. She had many issues that ranged in severity. Some were easy to see while others were not. There are so many things that the reader does not know about Granny and if the reader was aware they would understand better why she had so much anger built up inside that one woman. The most complex part of her is that we still don’t know all of her complexities. No one ever really could. Some complexities are secrets. Only things that we ourselves could ever know. For Granny, her secrets will die with her. Although she had been hurt, she had something better come along. But for her, that wasn’t enough. She was given grace, but didn’t accept it because of this raw, negative emotions she felt. She was destroyed her and is now forever broken.