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A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

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Eudora Weltys, “A Worn Path” is a story about the struggles people of color endure. Throughout the story we see elderly Phoenix Jackson going to great lengths to access medicine for her sickly grandson. She faces harsh conditions all throughout her journey to the city to retrieve the medicine. Once in the city Phoenix Jackson is met with people, nurses, who discriminate against her and make it harder for her to obtain the medical treatment she needs. “A Worn Path” shows how difficult it was for people of color to access medical care and treatment and even now people of color still struggle to get the proper care and attention they need. In the 1940’s, communities primarily made up by people of color had limited access to medical care. In …show more content…

There have been many instances in which people of color have been denied medical help because of racial discrimination against them. In the book, “Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care”, Dr. Gordon Moskowitz states “A physician’s recollection of stereotyped information she or he associates with a patient’s racial or ethnic group may crowd out the physician’s unbiased assessment and treatment decisions about the individual minority patient she or he is treating.”. In “A Worn Path”, Welty does an excellent job demonstrating the bias held against Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix being a black woman was racially discriminated against all throughout her journey. Her grandson was only given a treatment to help soothe his sickness and not cure entirely. This goes to show that the doctor did not care whether or not her grandson was cured, they just wanted to give him a temporary cure to dismiss him and not focus on him any longer. Dayna Bowen Matthew, in “Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care'' says “researchers found that providers bring negative prior beliefs about blacks’ intelligence, proclivity to engage in risky behavior, and likelihood of medical cooperativeness or adherence to prescribed regimens to influence their treatment recommendations.”. Even today there is still prejudice held against people of color, thus causing medical professionals to provide inadequate care for

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According to Henrietta, physicians at the Hopkins during the 1950s and early 1960s claimed to offer to treat African American patients but in contrary, they did so in a manner that showed segregation especially from the fellow white families. Another strategy to ensure that African Americans did not receive treatment in medical institutions is that there were education and language barrier. According to Skloot, these factors kept the backs away from these institutions unless they thought they had no choice, pg. 16.

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Also in hospitals most patients did not question there doctors even white patients. Rebecca Skloot states, "Especially black patients in public wards. This was 1951 in Baltimore, segregation was law, and it was understood that black people didn’t question white people’s professional judgment" (Skloot, 63). This example demonstrates that Africans were not equal in the hospital setting even in the wards they were treated in. Skloot continues and states, "Many black patients were just glad to be getting treatment, since discrimination in hospitals was widespread"(Skloot, 63).

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First of all, Welty represents characterization through Phoenix Jackson’s bravery and determination. The story states that, “She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows”’ (275). As a very old woman it is not safe for Phoenix Jackson to be walking by herself in the dark woods rather should be at home. However this shows how brave Phoenix is going all this way when it is dark and going to go get medicine. Eudora Welty states, “But every time she took a step she might have

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“A Worn Path” is a story that shows the struggling life of Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix Jackson is an elderly black woman that is nearly blind. She is experiencing many difficulties in life but she still manages to be very courageous throughout the story. Since Phoenix Jackson is an elderly black woman who is nearly blind that lives in an older time period, she is often disrespected and faces many discriminatory actions but she never looses her courage and her bravery. Race is one of the major struggles that Eudora Welty writes about Phoenix Jackson.

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The short story, “A Worn Path”, by Eudora Welty, the narrative is told from third person, limited to the main character, Phoenix’s, thoughts. The story takes place in the 1940’s, the main character being an older black woman making a journey through a forest by herself in order to reach town and get medicine for her sick grandson. Phoenix must climb steep hills, cross a wet log over a creek, and deal with the harsh treatment of the people she encounters on her way to the hospital to achieve her goal. Phoenix may be an old woman but that does not stop her from making this long and dangerous journey to get into town. The point of view Welty choses allows the reader to see Phoenix’s physical, emotional, and mental strength the reader would not have seen from first person.

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Imagine, a grandmother with no one to help her and no way to get to town except by trekking through the woods just to get medicine for her sick grandson. A trek that takes this old lady up a hill, through thorny bushes, and over a stream with no way of getting across except for a log laid over it. A world where this exists is the United States of America in the early to mid-1900s. As the old lady sets off, immediately she encounters difficulty, a hill, the first threshold. Welty’s depicts Phoenix as a determined character on a long, difficult journey to the doctor’s office to elevate her journey to that of a hero’s.

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