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Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

838 Words4 Pages

A Long Journey Eudora Alice Welty was an American short story writer and novelist who wrote about the American South. Welty was born on April 19, 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi and wrote the shorty story “A Worn Path” in 1941. Welty was awarded the presidential medal of freedom among numerous awards including the Order of The South. Eudora Welty passed away on July 23, 2001 in Jackson, MS at the age of 92, Welty lived a great life. In the story “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson’s characterization, symbolism/imagery, and conflict are shown while she is on a journey to get some medicine for her grandson. 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 …show more content…

The story states, “So she left that tree, and had to go through barbed-wire fence.” (276). Showing the difficulty Phoenix went through to get in town symbolizes her that she had to go through barbed-wire. However this symbolizes her couragesness and how much she really cares. Phoenix Jackson simply states, “You scarecrow, she said. Her face lighted. I ought to be shut up for good” (276). Phoenix thought the scarecrow was a ghost so she kind of was getting scared but when she found out it was not she laughed because she knew she was too old for this. However Phoenix kept going on her journey that shows how she symbolizes herself. Phoenix is not going to let some scarecrow and barbed-wire stop her from getting to town and helping her son and this symbolizes how brave Phoenix Jackson

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One can see that Phoenix Jackson is a warrior through her profound intellectual abilities, persistent behaviors, and her selflessness. Phoenix Jackson is able to show her intellectual side through her street smarts on her travel into town. While traveling on the long path, Phoenix gets stopped by a hunter with his dog. The man is trying to persuade Phoenix to go back home and not continue on the worn path. While this is happening, the old woman notices that a shiny nickel falls from the hunters’ pocket.

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To pass a barbed-wire fence, Phoenix must “creep and crawl... stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps”(par 16). When the small thorny bush gets in Phoenix’s way she stays persistent. Even though she is worn out and tired she does not slow down. The hunter came back with his dog “ Well, I scared him off that time, he said, and then he laughed and lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix.

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The physical complications of the path help enhance the feeling of uncertainty and turmoil Phoenix feels when traveling the path and thinking about her grandson. This journey is not only arduous for Phoenix physically, but mentally

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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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