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Get every literary device explanation for The Jilting of Granny WeatherallPlus so much more...
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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Marching Ghosts:
Porter uses personification and simile to give shape to death’s quiet advance in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," allowing the reader to feel its presence as a haunting, natural force. One of the most striking examples appears late in the story, as Granny’s thoughts begin to unravel and her connection to the present fades:
A fog rose over the valley, she saw it marching across the creek swallowing the trees and moving up the hill like an army of ghosts.
This sentence is rich with literary devices. First, the fog is personified: it “marches,” “swallows,” and “moves,” suggesting intent and momentum. Rather than a passive weather phenomenon, the fog takes on an almost conscious presence, silently encroaching on Granny’s world. The use of the simile “like an army of ghosts” transforms it into something even more unsettling: a spectral force that recalls the dead, the past, and the inevitability of what’s coming. The image evokes both the literal approach of nightfall and the more abstract arrival of death.
The quote is especially powerful in context. Just before this moment, Granny is mentally making plans for tomorrow—what chores to do, what letters to burn, what still needs to be said. She’s still clinging to the illusion of continuity and control. But then she forgets what she was thinking, and the narrative shifts to this image of the fog. The juxtaposition creates a stark contrast between Granny’s imagined future and the very real, creeping present. The fog not only symbolize deaths, but it also mirrors her failing mind that is slowly becoming clouded and disoriented.
On a structural level, this moment functions as a turning point. Up until now, Granny has resisted the idea that she is dying. The imagery signals that resistance beginning to dissolve. The natural world becomes a reflection of Granny’s internal state: the hill becomes her consciousness, the fog her forgetfulness and mortality. The personified fog invades both landscape and mind, creating a layered symbolic representation of how death overtakes not only the body but also memory and self-awareness.
This visual also affects the reader’s experience. By describing the fog as something marching “like an army of ghosts,” Porter invites the reader into the scene, not just to witness Granny’s final moments but to feel them. The tension rises not because of dramatic action, but because of the quiet power of the image. The fog doesn’t rush—it creeps, surrounds, and eventually consumes. Its movement is inevitable, just like Granny’s death. Through this poetic use of personification and simile, Porter turns a natural image into something deeply emotional. The fog becomes a metaphor for memory, aging, and death—forces that arrive slowly, silently, and finally.
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