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Strength In Alienation: Examining The Journey Of Phoenix Jackson

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Recommended: Theories of alienation

Morgan McMurtry
Baker
Comp 2
February 1, 2023

Strength in Alienation: Examining the Journey of Phoenix Jackson Empowered with a determination only a grandmother can understand, Phoenix Jackson greets each day much like she did the one before—in solitude, with strength, courage, and love. The monotony would be enough to jeopardize the sanity of most people, yet Eudora Welty’s Phoenix not only remains competent, her resolve deepens as her spirit is continually renewed. Although alienated in both her journey through life as well as on her journey along the path to help her grandson, Phoenix Jackson’s determination and inner strength allow her to succeed in achieving her goals. Throughout the life of Eudora Welty’s Phoenix Jackson, alienation …show more content…

At times, the terrain, like life, is both physically and figuratively overwhelming, “Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far, … Something always take a hold of me on this hill—pleads I should stay.” Phoenix contemplates the toll on her body and the magnitude of what she faces in life. Obstacles feel like chains around her legs, yet Phoenix resolves to complete her journey. Phoenix displays grit and a genuine resolve to complete her journey while keeping a sense of wit about her as she proceeds. She has race, age, and socioeconomic issues to overcome, yet, Phoenix resists the temptation to allow these issues or her pride to stand in her way. When she meets the hunter, she scurries to pick up the nickel he drops with, “the grace and care they would have in lifting an egg from under a setting hen." Grace and dignity accentuate the solomn resolve of this character. At one point in her journey, Phoenix must maneuver her body under a barbed wire fence, “... had to go through a barbed wire fence. There she had to creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps.” The fence represents the confines of slavery, and the barbed wire the caution with which newly freed slaves must move forward asserting their newfound

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In the short story Welty’s want the reader to be comfortable with Phoenix as a character. Welty describes Phoenix wearing a long dress reaching her shoe top and a long apron of bleached sugar sacks. When Phoenix talks aloud to herself the author wants the reader to imagine an old woman with characteristics of a warm, comical, young spirited woman side of her. The short story also uses images which evoke from the biblical imagery. Phoenix’s uses biblical connection to show the reader how important her story and the

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Given her grandson’s injuries that hope is as fragile as the paper windmill. This reminds us that hope is fragile, and is contingent on historical and civil efforts beyond Phoenix and her grandson.     Phoenix Jackson perseveres to achieve a purposeful goal. Phoenix Jackson stayed true to her faith in times of desperation. Against the obstacles, she was willing to reach her destination to provide her grandson with the medicine he is in need of.

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