Essay On A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

898 Words4 Pages

In the short story, “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty follows the journey of an old, frail woman named Phoenix Jackson on a long walk into Natchez, Mississippi where she has to get medicine for her grandson. The trip becomes especially difficult because of her age, and in mid-trip she forgets the reason for the struggle. At the end of the journey she remembered, retrieved the medicine, and decided to buy her grandson a Christmas present with the ten cents she had acquired during the day. Although, there is a deeper meaning that conveys simple life behind the journey, as well as the story, a simply beautiful story with many techniques and devices that employs an intricate and densely complex form. Even though it is not clear to anyone quite what it is, the story …show more content…

It shows the people she encounters, the obstacles, and the confusion she faces during the path, as well it relates to everyday living. It tells the reader that in one’s life they might come across people that will try to hurt and stop him/her. Although, to not be weak, to not give up and do not let the simple minded painful people get him/her such as ” The Hunter”. He who had helped Phoenix out of a ditch that she fell into all the while calling her rude names and as his dog continued to bark at her, did not phase Phoenix. With the racist comments, and how he threatened her by putting his gun in her face so calmly, after he had just helped her. It tells of how people and things can be helpful in life, although can turn out to be something negative and dangerous. It also shows that what people believe is not always true, and that things will not just get handed to people, everyone has to work for it. It demonstrates this with the character, “The Boy,” she encounters him in the woods after she had just sat to rest. He appears with a plate of cake, when she reaches, it was not there, he was never there just a part of her