The Grave

Life and Death in Texas

“The Grave” by Katherine Anne Porter begins with a brief description of a once wealthy family relocating to Texas. After the grandmother passes, the family sells part of the land, the family graveyard. The deceased family members are moved to a public cemetery. One of the sons, Harry had fallen on hard times. He remained on the land with his two children Miranda, 9, and Paul 12. Miranda and Paul were out hunting when they searched the gravesite that smelled pleasantly sweet, yet corrupt. They were excited by the graves since Paul and Miranda had no real understanding of life and death. They found two treasures, a silver dove and a gold wedding ring. Miranda adored the ring, and Paul seemed more interested in the dove, a screw head for a coffin. After she got the ring, Miranda became more and more uninterested in hunting. She wanted to go home, take a bath, and put on her finest dress. Paul shot a bunny and skinned it, but finds the bunny to be pregnant. After seeing the babies covered in blood, Miranda realized an intuition of her own changing body and a clearer understanding of life and death. Paul told her never to speak of what had happened, and she never did. Twenty years later, Miranda was in an Indian market when she smelled the same mix of sweet and corrupt smells and the entire repressed memory of the dead bunnies came back to her. She remembered the treasures and all she could see was her brother’s smiling face with the dove, remembering their innocence. Mature people must deal with life, death and how it relates to themselves or they will spend their whole lives searching for something.

Miranda was dressed as a tomboy with overalls and a straw hat. Her masculine clothes never bothered her much, outside the neighbors telling her she should be ashamed of the way she dressed. The father dressed Miranda in boy’s clothes that make the neighbors spite her. She had a strong social sense, more worried about offending...