Aunt Granny Lith Analysis

In “Aunt Granny Lith”, Chris Offutt’s short story, Beth and Casey change in order to conquer their problems.When tasked with an obstacle, one must be willing to change. It’s up to that same person to decide if they will change for the better or worse. Beth and Casey follow the steps of a Hero’s Quest, a pattern of many stories discovered by Joseph Campbell, and manage to come out reborn. Transformation is the major theme present throughout the story. Casey’s transformation allowed him to beat Aunt Granny Lith, but ultimately caused his downfall. He had to change his ways on handling a situation by using no guns, and had to give into what was needed in order to defeat AGL (Offutt 140). He changes mentally, as well as physically. He changed from being the masculine, strong defender to a broken, and beaten up man. Beth’s change made her more emotionally and physically stronger in the future. Beth, who once sought advice and depended on Nomey, no longer needed any guidance and physically defeated her obstacles. She learns how to solve her

It provides for a basic layout of the road toward becoming a hero. Campbell writes that “a hero must die as a modern man and become reborn. They are changed, wiser, and able to share their newfound knowledge and lessons they had learned to others” (1000 Faces 20). As seen in “AGL”, Beth had to leave her ordinary life, take a risk by marrying Casey, consult with her advisor Nomey, find multiple ways to defeat her problems with Aunt Granny Lith, and apply what she learned later in the future once confronted with Lil. Beth was willing to take a risk and change herself. She learned how to adapt to the situation and defeat her enemy. After that, she took that knowledge and experience and let it change her for the best. Becoming reborn, while also adapting and accepting the changes to one’s quest is what allows one to be a