Foil

Character Role Analysis

Granny and Cornelia

Like mother, like. . .well, Cornelia actually seems to be pretty unlike her mother. Granny describes her daughter this way:

She was always being tactful and kind (10).

Tactful and kind? That's almost the exact opposite of the unsparingly blunt and mean-spirited Granny. The story itself confirms Granny's assessment, too. Whenever we see Granny and Cornelia interacting, Cornelia tries to make her mother feel better while Granny responds by biting her head off (not literally, of course—Granny may not have many teeth left).