安徽三联学院外语学院美国文学课件Chapter 12 Katherine Anne Porter.ppt

Katherine Anne Porter Main Content ?. Life Ⅱ. Theme Ⅲ. Artistic Features Ⅳ. The Jilting of Granny Weatherall ?. Life She is remembered as one of America’s best short-story writers, she is the fourth of five children of her family. In 1892, when Porter is two years old, her mother died two months after giving birth to her last child. Porter is raised by her father and grandmother. Her grandmother died when she was 11, but her strong character provided a model for grandmother in her stories. In 1930, she published her first short story collection “the Flowering Judas and Other Stories”. An expended edition of this collection was published in 1935 and received many supports, it assured her place in American literature. In 1962, “The Ship of Fool”. She died at the age of 90, and her ashes were buried next to her mother. Ⅱ. Theme 1. Betrayal 2. God and Religion 3. Death 1. Betrayal The idea of betrayal is a central theme underlying many of Porter’s stories. At the heart of “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” are Granny’s memories of her betrayal by George, who abandoned her at the altar some sixty years earlier. 2. God and Religion Many readers have suggested that the ultimate betrayal of Granny involves God and that the story is primarily a portrait of a woman at the end of her life facing a devastating spiritual crisis. When Father Connolly comes to visit Granny Weatherall on her deathbed, she is cordial to him. It is stated that Granny “felt easy about her soul.” Yet, his arrival seems to trigger Granny’s most vivid and painful memories of the day sixty years earlier when she was left by her fiance. 3. Death Granny Weatherall struggles against death, and though she lacks the strength to get out of bed, denies even being ill. The final image in the story — of Granny blowing out a candle — evokes the notion that her life is coming to an end. Yet, there is no sense of closure to Granny’s life, no sense that the conflicts raised in her memories have been r