ipl-logo

Obstacles In The Worn Path

995 Words4 Pages

Written in 1941 “The Worn Path” is a shorty story written by Eudora Wetly. Where we follow the journey of an elderly women of color who takes the path to go to town and grab medicine for her sick grandson. The story shows what life was like for people of color and how they were treated. In the “The Worn Path” Granny Phoenix went through many obstacles, looking at these obstacles with a different lens shows us how her journey, and showed the fight for each generation and how they all take the same journey to reach a goal. Going through these will open your view to different meanings that Eudora was trying to teach. Granny Phoenix started her journey early in the morning in December. In the first paragraph it starts off showing Granny’s age …show more content…

When granny walked in the attendant said, “Charity case I suppose” (para. 69). The attendant just looked at granny and called her charity just because of the way she looked. Assuming by her skin color and how she was dressed that she would not be able to afford whatever she was about to ask for. The attendant started asking granny questions, but she stayed silent this aggravated the attendant, so she started saying things like “Are you deaf” (para. 73) trying to get granny to start talking. The nurse eventually came out trying to get granny to talk as well. The one thing that the nurse said that caused granny to start talking was “Tell us quickly about your grandson, and get it over. He isn't dead, is he?” (Para, 83) Granny answers them and says no she just needs his medicine for his throat. The nurse then questions her saying “Throat never heals, does it? (Para,88) Granny eventually got her medicine and started to head out when the attendant said, “Could I give you a few pennies out of my purse” (para.95). This we could look at as also another case of generalization throughout this story. She was trying to go from rude to nice because she felt

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

638 Words | 3 Pages

In phoenix, everything looks stable for the time being. They had a huge house with multiple rooms. Her mother used some of the rooms for her artwork and Rex-the dad got a job as an electrician. Rex’s drinking becomes the focal point of the section. For her birthday, Jeannette asked her dad to quit drinking and he stops for a while until one night he broke wild and grabbles with his wife and breaks down.

Read More

Folk Healing Beliefs Case Study

842 Words | 4 Pages

By the next day, she didn’t even try to speak but would squeeze the nurse’s hand when spoken to. Mrs. Fernandez who is a widow lives with 5 of her children (all married with Kids). Mrs. Fernandez children are asking questions

Read More

Clear Paths To The Past Analysis

293 Words | 2 Pages

The theme for “Clearing Paths to the Past” is that hard working people are important, just like in “To be of use” the author tells us that we shouldn’t take those who work hard for granted. In “Clearing Paths to the Past” it says that,”She had muscled the farm along while he worked at

Read More

Phoenix Jackson Archetypes

1718 Words | 7 Pages

“The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary,” which has not been more so than for Phoenix Jackson whom every year due to her love for her grandson embarks on a dangerous one-day journey to the city of Natchez. In this 1941 short story, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, protagonist Phoenix Jackson, an elderly African-American women, whom despite her visual impairment, old age, memory loss and senility determines to procure medicine for her sickly grandson. Regardless of Phoenix Jackson’s limitations and negative experiences, she continues her journey undeterred. In order to characterize Jackson, Welty utilizes symbolic and situational archetypes to portray her as a strong, persevering, courageous, and loving women throughout her journey.

Read More

Phoenix Johnson In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

520 Words | 3 Pages

On this December day she is walking down a long and enduring Natchez Trace to perform a heroic quest. On the path it goes into great detail about all the things she sees such as water, animals, cabins, plants, and dangerous places. This gives us the sense that she is familiar with taking this journey linking us to Phoenix and the history behind the path. The appearance that Phoenix Johnson has is very important to the story.

Read More

Analysis Of Shonagon's Embarrassing Stories

141 Words | 1 Pages

she then continues by declaring them an embarrassment to the visitor. Therefore that passage proves she is respectful to the higher class. Both

Read More

How Is Phoenix Jackson A Stock Character

694 Words | 3 Pages

She finally cares about her appearance enough to stop a young woman with tons of presents in her hand to tie her shoe. “Please, missy will you lace up my shoe?” she held up her foot (90). And the woman very kindly ties her shoes tightly. As old Phoenix enter the hospital she’s immediately insulted by the attendant.

Read More

Obstacles In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

539 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story, “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty introduces an elderly, African American, woman named Phoenix Jackson, whom for two or three years has made a long quest to town to get medicine for her ill grandson. Initially, Phoenix must overcome many obstacles to reach climax of her journey. Eudora Welty uses these obstacles to demonstrate the theme of her story, which is that Phoenix’s ambition/hope was the leading role in her preserving. The first obstacle that displays Phoenix’s determination to succeed, was when she came to a hill during her quest to town.

Read More

Eudora Welty A Worn Path

158 Words | 1 Pages

A Worn Path is an essay by Eudora Welty describing an old black woman, by the name of Pheonix Jackson, who travels to get her grandson the medicine he needs. The story is less about the goal of getting the medicine and more about the encounters this old woman has with her environment. This environment in question is an active antagonist per say, and an all around obstacle to the woman’s journey that she has to overcome to reach her goal, including hazards such as a barbed wire fence that she had to crawl under. This, combined with her poor vision as she mistakes a scarecrow for a “ghost” until she reaches out and touches its sleeve, and her intense fatigue give more depth to her character as whole and shed light on how strong her convictions

Read More

How Far She Went Short Story

885 Words | 4 Pages

She grabbed him whimpering; held him under till the struggle ceased and the bubbles rose silver from his fur. (Hood 414) In Mary Hoods “How Far She Went” A grandmother struggles with the burden of experience, loss and a life of hard decisions; where a girl strives to live in a naïve and free spirited illusion. The paths of a grandmother and her granddaughter soon collide when experience and naivety meet on a dirt road in the south. “How Far She Went” illustrates how generational struggles and tragedies can mold people influencing their lives and the way they live.

Read More

Phoenix In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

471 Words | 2 Pages

In Greek mythology, phoenixes were birds that died in flames and were born again from the ashes. The constant cycle that phoenixes lived in indicated that the birds were strong and everlasting which highlighted the ideas of rebirth and resilience. Author Eudora Welty employs these common associations that people have with phoenixes in her short story “A Worn Path” to portray the main character. Christened ‘Phoenix’ Jackson, the elderly protagonist makes a routine trip to a doctor’s office to retrieve medicine for her ill grandson and the reader joins her on her ‘worn path’ to see every obstacle that she confronts along the way. Despite the odds, hoary Phoenix Jackson makes it all the way to the clinic; she is hardy and persistent even in her old age.

Read More

Personal Narrative: St. George Asylum

1634 Words | 7 Pages

As I walked down the hall I heard Ethan and Sam, another patient in my ward very old and an lovable being talking in a very low tone, I hid behind a door to hear their conversation. Ethan asks Sam, “I saw you escaping last night and returning with those flowers on your bed.” Sam was denying this while the flowers were on his bed, then turned around and responded to Ethan. “I will help you too but you have to promise to get me a new flower each time.”

Read More

A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

584 Words | 3 Pages

She is an elderly, poor, and physically limited woman who lives in a rural area. Despite her age and physical limitations, she is a determined and independent woman who is deeply devoted to her grandson. Throughout the story, Phoenix’s character is revealed through her thoughts and actions, as she makes her way along the path to the city. One of the most notable aspects of Phoenix’s character is her love for her grandson.

Read More

Essay On A Good Man Is Hard To Find

852 Words | 4 Pages

The grandmother in this story

Read More

Racism In A Worn Path

883 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

More about Obstacles In The Worn Path

Related Topics

Open Document