The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall Literary Analysis

What is the word believability? To me, believability is the ability to relate and empathize with something or someone. I am more likely to believe a person if I can relate to them and their experiences. In the story, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter the readers experience the death of an old woman named Ellen Weatherall, while in The Storm by Kate Chopin a woman called Calixta has an affair with her former lover whilst her husband and child are stuck in a storm. Both stories offer vivid details about the experiences these women go through, but which character is the most believable? Although both stories contain expressive and colorful descriptions of the events that occur and how the characters feel, The Jilting of

In The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, the narration of the story is a mix of third person limited and first person. The first person narration gives the reader the ability to hear what is going on in the mind of Ellen and receiving her point of view on different events is what makes her character feel more alive and believable “So, my dear Lord, this is my death and I wasn’t even thinking about it. My children have come to see me die. But I can’t, it’s not time (Porter 7) . The first person point of view offers the reader a look into Ellen’s emotions, enabling the reader to feel the despair and pain that Ellen must suffer through before she dies. On the other hand, The Storm’s narration is that of 3rd person omniscient. The reader is not able to get into the thoughts and feelings of Calixta. Although they are there when Calixta is worried about her husband and child being stuck in the storm and when she is being pleasured by Alcée, they do not feel those emotions with her “She was a revelation in that dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon” (Chopin 2). Giving the reader the ability to experience Ellen’s emotion versus just having the reader there while Calixta is with her lover is what makes the narration of The Jilting of Granny Weatherall create such a believable