Read the following excerpt from Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall": Cornelia's voice staggered and jumped like a cart in a bad road. It rounded
corners and turned back again and arrived nowhere. Granny stepped up in the
cart very lightly and reached for the reins, but a man sat beside her and she
knew him by his hands, driving the cart. She did not look in his face, for she
knew without seeing, but looked instead down the road where the trees leaned
over and bowed to each other and a thousand birds were singing a Mass. She
felt like singing too, but she put her hand in the bosom of her dress and pulled
out a rosary, and Father Connolly murmured Latin in a very solemn voice and
tickled her feet. My God, will you stop that nonsense? I'm a married woman.
What if he did run away and leave me to face the priest by myself? I found
another a whole world better. I wouldn't have exchanged my husband for
anybody except St. Michael himself, and you may tell him that for me with a
thank you in the bargain.
Light flashed on her closed eyelids, and a deep roaring shook her. Cornelia, is
that lightning? I hear thunder. There's going to be a storm. Close all the
windows. Call the children in ... "Mother, here we are, all of us." "Is that you
Hapsy?" "Oh, no, I'm Lydia. We drove as fast as we could." Their faces drifted
above her, drifted away. The rosary fell out of her hands and Lydia put it back.
Jimmy tried to help, their hands fumbled together, and granny closed two
fingers around Jimmy's thumb. Beads wouldn't do, it must be something alive.
She was so amazed her thoughts ran round and round. 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. Oh, I always hated surprises.
Identify two themes that are clearly developed in this excerpt of "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall." How does
the author develop the two themes over the course of this excerpt? Be sure to use specific details from the
text to support your answer.