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Compare And Contrast Rose For Emily And The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

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Many modernists were inspired by the Civil War, WWI, and the Great Depression to introduce a new theme into literature. This theme consisted of the stream of conscious, and hopelessness. A short piece that has both of these themes is “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Ann Porter. Porter’s short story compared to many other modernistic pieces during the modernist time period. A terrific comparison to this story is the story “Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, which also has both the stream of conscious and hopelessness as themes. Porter’s and Faulkner’s stories both share the same theme of hopelessness. Each story begins with a situation that seems very hopeless in terms of reviving in any way. Porter’s story begins with poor …show more content…

When the doctor comes to see her, Granny Weatherall is in a delusive state. Porter writes “Her bones felt loose, and floated around in her skin, and Doctor Harry floated like a balloon around the foot of the bed” (Porter pg. 835). The audience thus concluded that Granny had gone crazy and sick. Usually there is no cure for being delusive as people get older. Furthermore, Granny was also talking aloud the thoughts she had in her head. This type of writing is Porter using the stream of consciousness to exploit Granny’s delusive state. Even more damning, Porter writes at the end that Granny prayed for a sign, but nothing came and then she died. This is another example of hopelessness. In comparison, Faulkner’s story also conveys the same theme. In his story “Rose for Emily,” he begins the story with Emily’s death. This is obviously a hopeless situation that cannot be changed. Modernistic authors use situations like these to get their audience to realize that death or sickness is damning, and there isn’t often a “happy” ending. By “happy” ending, the modernistic authors mean there is no chance of religion barring any role in death, or that death is always the same inevitable ending. Both stories also have differences. In Porter’s story, Granny develops delusions at

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