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A Worn Path Theme Essay

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Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path: Conveying the Theme of Sacrificial Love How much does a grandmother love her grandson? It is difficult to show more love than Phoenix Jackson did in Eudora Welty’s short story A Worn Path. Jackson is an old and poor grandmother whose senses are beginning to fail her, but she goes through seemingly unbearable trials in order to get to town and pick up her grandson’s medicine that will keep him alive. In this heartwarming story, Welty uses symbolism and various conflicts to create the theme of sacrificial love. In A Worn Path, Welty uses symbolism to illustrate her theme by giving the protagonist the name Phoenix. A phoenix is often used as a symbol of death and resurrection from the ashes ("Ancient Symbolism of …show more content…

Because she is an elderly African-American in Mississippi of the early 1900s, it is extremely likely that Jackson lived through the days of slavery and it is indisputable that she is living during the Jim Crow era of segregation. These circumstances mean that Jackson is looked down upon because of her race, despite how determined and courageous she really is. People disrespect Phoenix by referring to her as “granny” multiple times. A hunter also tells her that old colored people “wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus” (59). Later on, the young white hunter points a gun to her face and asks if it scares her, but she says that she saw plenty of guns go off in front of her. Jackson is willing to go through these conflicts in order to get to Natchez and achieve her goal. In conclusion, Eudora Welty did a good job showing the sacrificial love of a grandmother in A Worn Path. She gave her protagonist a name that symbolizes death and rebirth, and she also created difficult conflicts that accurately shows the endless parameters of Phoenix Jackson’s sacrificial love. It is our job to show this kind of sacrificial love toward others. We should strive for the love Phoenix Jackson has and sacrifice like she did for our loved

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Pheonix Jackson’s grandson is dead because she shows signs of dementia, she hesitates when asked about how the boy is doing, and she says words that imply the boy isn’t changing. The story “ A Worn Path” follows the difficult trip routinely made by Pheonix on foot to a nearby town for her grandson’s medicine which he needs for his swollen throat. Pheonix shows signs of dementia which would affect her perception of reality and her grandson being alive or dead. In the line, “At first she took it as a man,” referring to her encountering a scarecrow, Pheonix shows that her senses are inadequate enough to believe a scarecrow is a man dancing in a field (762). Pheonix is more reliant on her body remembering the trail than her sense of sight

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This serves as an example of how a lack of familial ties can prevent an individual from overcoming intergenerational trauma. The relationship between Phoenix and her mother Elsie is portrayed as distant and estranged. This is exemplified in a scene where Phoenix is going to prison and Elsie attempts to reach out to her, but she rejects the gesture by moving away and refusing to touch her mother. Phoenix also expressed disdain for her mother's weakness, “she does not want to look at her, does not want to see Elsie groveling in her Elsie way, being weak. She does not want to feel sorry for her, or feel anything for her” (Vermette 323).

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When Phoenix notices her uncle's house is filthy, she decides to clean it up because her uncle likes it "when she does girl things like that" (Vermette 25). Phoenix is portrayed in the text as harsh and commanding, but in reality, all she wants is to be liked, which demonstrates how victims of intergenerational trauma desire to be loved. Phoenix is also seen to be jealous and go to extreme lengths when Emily receives affection instead of her. Phoenix has been pregnant for “seven months” with Clayton’s child (Vermette 320) and now is in prison for raping a girl, Emily, who Clayton was hanging out with. Readers understand that Phoenix has never received a lot of affection when she was younger

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In the short story Welty’s want the reader to be comfortable with Phoenix as a character. Welty describes Phoenix wearing a long dress reaching her shoe top and a long apron of bleached sugar sacks. When Phoenix talks aloud to herself the author wants the reader to imagine an old woman with characteristics of a warm, comical, young spirited woman side of her. The short story also uses images which evoke from the biblical imagery. Phoenix’s uses biblical connection to show the reader how important her story and the

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She exemplifies Christ along her journey when she stops under a mistletoe tree; the same type of tree in which the cross was made. The thorns she encounters also relate to Christ’s death on the cross, the crown of thorns he wears on his head. The journey she takes to get her grandson’s medicine, is considered to be an example of self-sacrifice. Phoenix gives others the opportunity to help her and accomplish good things. One example is when the hunter helps her out of the ditch.

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Given her grandson’s injuries that hope is as fragile as the paper windmill. This reminds us that hope is fragile, and is contingent on historical and civil efforts beyond Phoenix and her grandson.     Phoenix Jackson perseveres to achieve a purposeful goal. Phoenix Jackson stayed true to her faith in times of desperation. Against the obstacles, she was willing to reach her destination to provide her grandson with the medicine he is in need of.

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Phoenix Jackson is a woman who will not give up, despite the odds. Which leads to her being successful and reaching her purpose, in the

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Phoenix’s endurance on the journey is portrayed by this change, which helps to reveal the

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The first obstacle Phoenix Jackson had to deal with was the hill which make her feet feel as if they were chained to one another and the hill would issue pleas for her to just stay. Moreover, Phoenix Jackson would not be deterred so quick and accomplishes the feat and turns to relish the first obstacle, but quickly realizes that every step down the hill will be just as treacherous as the ascent. Phoenix gets caught in some thorny bushes upon her decent but was able to free her without ripping her dress. After crossing the creek Phoenix Jackson is approached by obviously a familiar boy who offers her a piece of cake and when she goes to accept it she awakes from the day dream.

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Traveling by foot through a pine thicket, tenacious Phoenix Jackson resists wild animals, physical challenges, and a male hunter carrying a gun, on her journey to retrieve medicine to sooth her grandson (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The heroine of the story, Phoenix Jackson, is a petit, old, black woman that is dressed in ragged clothing and uses an old umbrella to steady her journey (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). This frail image is in direct contrast to the name Phoenix, however, just as the mythical Phoenix bird rises from the flame with a burning desire, our heroine is determined to complete her mission (Dilworth, & Keating, 2007). The name Phoenix is also symbolic of the determined nature of the individual as she makes the trek to secure medicine

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Some references even suggest Phoenix may have once been a slave; such as the chains the old woman feels on her feet as she climbs the path uphill. Racial inequality is unmistakably clear when the old woman falls in the ditch and is confronted by the white hunter. One would believe the hunter calling Phoenix Granny to be a harmless reference to her age; however, Granny is a term coined by southern whites in the thirties and forties and refers to a single elderly black woman: a granny is an old black woman who takes care of the white

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In the story “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson was an old African American women. She takes a small journey that can be an allegory of someone's whole life. The journey had hard and easy parts, beauty, danger, and confusion. But her quest was to get the medicine for her sick grandson who laid at home waiting for her return. Phoenix was a delusional yet heroic, caring grandmother who would stop at nothing to get what she needed.

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