Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

Look around outside what is there, busy roads and people walking fast. Those are all true facts but there is a lot more than just what meets the eye. Each one of those people has a story and they have a purpose for where they are going. Each car on the road has a final destination it is driving to. Just with a little explanation, the viewer sees more than what was seen at first glance. “A Worn Path” is the same way. Eudora Welty the author is a brilliant writer as she shares so many facts that add so much more to the story. In “A Worn Path”, Eudora Welty uses symbolism to show the different phases of history and how it can affect a person by the name of the man character, having the young boy bring marble cake and the importance of staying

Eudora Welty was a writer with a purpose and she wanted to make a statement through her writing. While writing “A Worn Path” Eudora Welty used her main character, Phoenix Jackson to make a statement of power. When the reader looks into the definition of the name Phoenix it means that they always come back to life. The last name Jackson also has importance. There are three key reasons that can be discovered to show why Jackson is a name of power. The name Jackson shows power because it stands for a seat in government. The second reason that the name Jackson is powerful is that the place Welty grew up was Jackson, Mississippi. As well as Mississippi being in the south it is important to take in consideration that segregation and the movement of Black Rights to be equals was very strong in this time period. This story was written in 1941, which was after the break of the civil war movements and the break of segregation. But this was still a strong issue in Jackson, Mississippi. The third example of proving Jackson as a strong leader is Stonewall Jackson. He was a strong leader in the Civil War as he was under the leadership of Robert E. Lee. With Phoenix being an example of coming back to life and Jackson is an example of a strong-willed leader it is important to see that Phoenix Jackson is someone who will not give up will use power

Jackson sees this cake as one day the races mixing together. The marble cake was given to Phoenix Jackson by a young boy, Welty wrote, “She did not dare to close her eyes, and when a little boy brought her a plate with a slice of marble- cake on it she spoke to him” (Welty, 228). This cake and experience were all apart of her imagination. There are two parts of this vision of this little boy that are important and add to the storyline for Phoenix Jackson. The first major thing is that the dessert that the young boy brought was a slice of marble cake. The importance of marble cake is it is a swirl of both chocolate and vanilla cake formed into one. This is Eudora Welty way of sharing how the two races will be mixed together as one and the two people groups will be treated as equals. This is also written in the story as a symbol of the main character, Phoenix Jackson is picturing her that even though she remembers the two races being separated and there is a change in culture. The second thing that is important about Jackson's imagination is that is was a young little boy bringing the cake. It is important that the young boy brought the cake because Phoenix Jackson was on a journey the entire time to get medicine for her grandson. This young boy represented Jackson's grandson and what world he would be growing up in. These boys would know the history of segregation of separation but it would not be how these young children would