Comparing Women In A Worn Path And Everyday Use

The older women from the short stories “A Worn Path” and “Everyday Use” are completely different in many ways. One is mentally and physically stronger than the other. “Mama” from “Everyday Use” is strong in physically, remembers many things about heritage, and she also has a better connection with family than Phoenix. One way “Mama” is strong then Phoenix is she is physically fit. She works hard to provide for her family by doing men's work. “Mama” in the short story “ Everyday Use,” tells of how she kills a bull calf by striking the animal between the eyes with a sledgehammer. She eats many foods many proper women will not, she eats a pork liver cooked on an open fire right after it is removed from the hog. In the story “ Worn Path,” the older woman named Phoenix Jackson is weak. In the story she walks with a cane made from an old umbrella, this shows she does not have much money to spend to buy new items for herself or family because she is weak. She is too weak to bend over when she arrives to town from her home far away because her bones are very old and do not work as when she was younger.

“Mama” is able to tell Dee, her daughter, how she was named after her sister, then was able to tell her how the name has been passed down through the family. She tells Dee how the quilts are made by the grandmother and how they were made from her clothes that she wore for years. Phoenix is mentally weak because she can not remember much. She forgets what she has to ask the doctor when she arrives in town. The nurse asks her main times what she came for just to remind her that she came for medicine for her grandson at