A Worn Path Eudora Welty’s, A Worn Path, is about an elderly African-American woman in the 1930’s named Phoenix Jackson, whose love for her grandson takes her on a long and difficult journey. Phoenix’s mission is to make it through the Mississippi woods on her way to town to get medicine from the doctor for her sick grandson. She is faced with many physical, mental and racial obstacles and has to overcome adversity throughout the course of her journey. Phoenix Jackson is a very feeble, old woman who clearly should not be trekking through the forest alone. She first hears a noise in the bushes and warns the wild animals in an effort to show her determination.
Latisha LC Isaac Eng 1102 Analytical Essay Corrections October 13, 2012 An Analysis of “A Worn Path”, by Eudora Welty Everyone has their own journey in life, and their path might be filled with many ups and downs. For instance, Phoenix Jackson, much like the mythological bird that rises from the ashes, exhibits great perseverance and strength as she faces difficulties and hardships in the short story, “A Worn Path”, by Eudora Welty. Phoenix, who is very old woman, travels to town, through woods and fields, to obtain medication for her sick grandson. Although the path is worn because it had been trailed a many of times, Phoenix faces many wild animals. However, in spite of the negative connotations that wild animals might be a hindrance to Phoenix, they are actually motivation.
All he tried to do is get phoenix to go home to be safe. However phoenix refused to stop and continued down the hill and arrived at the town full of Christmas. She arrived at the doctor’s office and finally remembered her reason for the journey is medicine for her grandson. She then got the medicine and took in home to her grandson. OBSERVATIONS 1.
Then she opened her eyes and she was safe on the other side.”. The symbolism in this excerpt reveals a sense of blind faith that Jackson’s character has about the world and her capabilities of managing in this world. She never doubts that she will make it to her destination or that she will successfully return with medicine for her grandson. This clever use of symbolism continues as Jackson slowly makes the long journey to town. She talks to the animals such as coons, beetles, and wild hogs scaring them away.
As the author describes the main character’s disposition, “She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grand-father clock”. The pendulum in a grandfather clock could be considered a symbol not only used to describe the natural movement of the main character but also of the passing of an era in which Blacks were living to be of slow progress, creating a heavy burden on the Blacks who resided in the Deep South during this time. “Her name was Phoenix Jackson”. The main characters name is also symbolic in truth, in that the plot is surrounded by the main character’s drive,
A Worn Woman In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”, the main character, Phoenix Jackson, an older, black woman sets off on a long journey to the nearby town, Natchez. Along the way, Phoenix encounters many obstacles such as long paths, wild animals, and people. In addition, she also overcomes racial prejudice. Phoenix finally makes it to the city and receives the free medication for her sick nephew. She walks the worn path because of the love she feels for her grandson.
Worn Path: Symbolism In short, you could say that “A Worn Path” describes the journey of an elderly black woman named Phoenix Jackson who walks from her home to the city to get some medicine for her sick grandson, but it is so much more than that. Phoenix faces many obstacles in her path and she has to overcome all of them to get to the city. She over comes all of these obstacles, not only physically but emotionally as well. Symbolism also presents itself in many parts of “A Worn Path.” When one begins to analyze the symbolism in this story, one should begin at the title. According to Hamm, Jackson’s path is worn not only because she has traveled it many times, but because it has been followed by countless, self-sacrificing others.
in the begging of the story phoenix’s skirt gets caught in a thorn bush and that symbolizes her life going through a rough time. then later on Phoenix goes to cross a river and lifts her skirt up so to keep it from getting wet and that symbolizes her rough times being lifted from upon her. "We is the only two left in the world. "This quote by Phoenix is really important, because it shows how secluded she is from society, but also how important her grandson is to her. That she would think of him and her as the only two people that truly matter.
“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty is a story of an elderly black woman “ her head tied in a red rag, coming along path through the pinewoods. Her named was Phoenix Jackson” (Welty 82). Phoenix travels a long journey to town to acquire medicine for her grandson at the doctor’s office and the elderly woman goes through struggles against intense fatigue and poor eyesight, as well as such obstacles as thorn bushes and barbed wire and loose dogs such as.“ A black dog with a lolling tongue” (Welty 84). On that note, this illustrates that Phoenix Jackson overcomes many obstacles to reach her destination. It’s December when Phoenix starts on her journey to Natchez and it is a journey she has taken many times before.
Brave Orchid, Kingston’s mother, sets this as an example of what not to be in life. The second story begins with the journey of a small girl, who ventures into the wilderness to find an old couple, who teach her the way of the Warrior, as the tale of Fa Mu Lan. The third is the story of her mother, who could not take the sadness of her lost children, and thus decided to go to medical school. She became one of the most respectable doctors in all of china, spreading health and wellness wherever she went. Second to last, comes the hopeless attempt of Brave Orchid to reunite her sister with her husband, who was last spoken to 30 years ago.