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Eudora Welty's Short Story 'A Worn Path'

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A Worn Path
In Eudora Welty's short story "A Worn Path" the character Phoenix Jackson is an “elderly woman “who shows great courage to travel through the woods to get medicine for her grandson. Jackson’s grandson unintentionally swallowed lye some years ago which burned his throat, and he needs the medicine to heal him. During her journey, Jackson encounters several obstacles that she face that remind me of my grandmother who would do anything to help us. The character journey shows her strength to overcome many physical obstacle by presents of courage, strength, and love.
Phoenix’s courage underlined by her encounters with the young hunter and the clinic employees. On the trace, a dog knocks her off her path, leaving her unable to rise until she is rescued by a young hunter. Though he helps her, she is also somewhat scare of him. The hunter belittles her and boasts of himself because he walks as far as she does when he hunts little birds. She divert the hunter attention by getting him to chase off the strange dog, so she can retrieve his nickel to buy her …show more content…

Thorn bushes and barbed-wire fences, log bridges and hills are major barriers for her. The cornfield she must cross from her initial path to a wagon road is a maze, haunted to her nearsightedness by a ghost that turns out to be a scarecrow. She must also struggle against her tendency to slip into a dream and forget her task, as when she stops for a rest and dreams of a boy offering her a piece of cake. Despite the difficulty of her trip, she clearly enjoys her adventure. She talks happily to the landscape, warning the small animals to stay safely out of her way and showing patience with the thorn bush, which behaves naturally in catching her dress. Her perception of these obstacles emphasizes her strength to complete to continue her journey to get to the

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The story of Phoenix Jackson and the Narrator are based on the point of view of both the writers. “A Worn Path” is a story of a small, old, African American woman with wrinkles, who wore an apron bleached sugar sacks, hold a cane made from umbrella and shoe laces that are dragging, walking down the winter landscapes and describing everything she notices. While, “The Lone Ranger” is a story of a typical Native American youth, who is recounting his view of his society and struggles with identity, alcohol, and family relationships. The two characters have a few things in common and are opposite from each other. Even though staying in a marginalized environment, she is determined to do miles of walking to the urban area where she have to face

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One could assume that symbolism is the backbone to all literature. Without symbolism the piece of literature is inadequate, lacking representations of objects, people, and situations. However Eudora Welty’s work “A Worn Path” proves the prominence of symbolism in any prose. The short story about a woman’s ability to face nature, mankind, and one’s own self. The protagonist is an woman named Phoenix Jackson who has an unforgettable nature.

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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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Also like Everyday Use, A Worn Path takes place at a time in the 1900s when racism existed. Just like Mama, Phoenix also takes care and protects a child. However, the child she takes care of is her grandson. Many years ago, her grandson swallowed lye. This is a strong substance which is used in making soap.

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She gets caught in a thorn bush, and when she finally frees her clothes from the thorns, she is "trembling all over." The struggle of the grueling journey is demonstrated as she mounts a log "and shut her eyes" in order to cross a creek. She also has to "creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps” under a barbed-wire fence. As Phoenix departs from the hilly path, she thinks about the approaching area telling herself, "This is the easy place. This is the easy going."

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In “A Worn Path,” it is hypothesized that Phoenix was once a slave, as she mentioned to a hunter when he pulled a gun on her “I seen plenty of those go off, closer by in my day. ”(51) , and is now traveling through

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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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The author uses certain elements of fiction throughout the short story which are: setting, symbol and allusion. Setting was the time and place, the short story took place on a frozen December morning, phoenix has to walk long miles and endure hardship and obstacles to bring back medicine for the little boy. Symbolism is shown because it shows what phoenix has gone through all her life, specially that she is a black woman, but that does not make her quit on her determinations. Allusion is the main example of how phoenix and the mythical bird assimilate Phoenix Jackson is always alive and wants to live long for only one

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However crossing the first threshold of overcome the first obstacle in the journey Phoenix acknowledges her hero’s journey has just yet begun. Roaming amongst the forest she states that no wild animal shall approach her from any direction. “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals! Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites...

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While walking up the path, Phoenix has had to overcome obstacles while it seems like death is in the form of chains around her feet. Even so, she continues onward to freedom. The scene continues while Phoenix passes trees and birds and animals, and suddenly she is crawling through a barbed-wire fence. The change in scenery indicates how Phoenix might be somewhat confused, especially because she is old. It also indicates how Phoenix’s journey was not one of peacefulness, rather, it was one of survival.

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For some people her journey would be seen as a very simple, but for phoenix she’s very old and not able to do the things she used to do. Phoenix is trying to get the medication for her grandson and is willing to take risk to get her grandsons medicine.

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Her grandson is all she has left, and Phoenix’s dedication to her grandson is what keeps her going. Welty illustrates Phoenix’s perseverance and devotion to her grandson, indicating that heroes must endure physical and mental challenges to succeed on their trek. Phoenix is often shown taking on physically demanding obstacles,

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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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