He puts the icing on the cake when proving that he is a racist person because he makes miss Phoenix feel as if she’s worth nothing when he so rudely holds the gun in her face and simply asks her, “‘Doesn’t this gun scare you?’”. Normally when you raise a gun to someone’s face, they’re going to reply with a yes but instead of replying scared, Miss Phoenix replies with a, “‘No sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done.’”
Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path is a story about an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson who embarks on a journey to the city. In the city, Phoenix needs to obtain medicine for her son whose throat has been damaged drinking lye several years ago. During Jackson’s travel, she encounters several obstacles, some dangerous and some mild. Written in 1941, this story describes what sort of life people like Phoenix Jackson lived in 1940’s America . Slavery in America was abolished in 1865 after the Southern States had surrendered to the Northern States in the Civil War.
Segregation was more pronounced in the south, due to the harsh Jim Crow laws enacted there; these laws mandated rigid racial segregation in virtually all aspects of American life. In 1932, Rosa married a barber, and active member of the NAACP, Raymond Parks, at her mother’s house. After her marriage, Rosa took numerous jobs, ranging from domestic worker to hospital aide. At her husband's
In the essay “A Train from Hate,” Franklin and his mother were escorted off of a train because they mistakenly got on the whites only coach resulting in them having to walk home through the woods. Franklin wrote in his autobiography Mirror to America, “I endured the very strict segregation laws and practices in Tulsa, Oklahoma” (Durham). Franklin’s experience with racism and the role he played in society compelled him to write this essay. As he stated in the story, “My pilgrimage from racial apprehension— was early and brief”
Key Features The official start of the boycott was on December 1st 1955. Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, had refused to give up her seat to a white man on the Montgomery Bus service. Rosa Parks was an educated woman, a long-time member of the NAACP and had completed a course on “Race Relations” in the Highlander Folk School, Tennessee. She was subsequently arrested, which sparked outrage among the black community. The MIA(Montgomery Improvement Association) was formed with Martin Luther King as president.
Many groups have struggled for change and equality from the 1940s to the 1960s. African Americans were one of the many groups to have struggled for change and equality. The march on Washington was one of the several battles against racial discrimination to have taken place during these times. Prior to World War II, 75 percent of defense contractors refused to hire African Americans, and another 15 percent employed them only in menial jobs. In response to such discrimination, A. Philip Randolph, president and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, planned a march on Washington where he called on African Americans to come to capital on July 1, 1941.
In the short story, “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson, the main character, is an elderly lady who lives in the country and walks mils to get to the city to receive medicine for her grandson. Unfortunately for Phoenix, many obstacles hinder her on her walk to the city. The restrictions that cause problems for Phoenix on her trip to the city are her age, the environment, racism, and her mental health. Phoenix’s age causes her many problems on her travel to receive medicine for her grandson. “Phoenix’s eyes were blue with age and her skin had branching wringles as if she had a branching tree on her forehead.” The white hunger asked her “how old are you, Granny?” and she replied “there is no telling mister, no telling.” These are two quotes directly from the short story “A Worn Path” that describe Phoenix’s age.
He started a treatment with a dermatologist that would turn him into a black man. To do this he had to spend hours under lamps while taking certain medications, a regiment that was quite intense to say the least. What’s his inspiration? White of the country will finally be able to have a perspective that they could never once have achieved. After Griffin completes his treatment, he heads out on his journey to the south, expecting to be treated horribly, but he, to his surprise, ends finding the true bias, adversity and cruelty that the country has been mounting onto blacks in America for many years, with the blacks having no recourse but to
Kim Adams Professor Jones English Comp II 20 September 2012 IT’S NOT THE DESTINATION, IT’S THE JOURNEY In Eudora Welty’s story “A Worn Path” about an elderly black woman making a long journey, I realized this journey she is making is the biggest and, perhaps most important, journey of her life. In this story Phoenix Jackson takes a worn path to the city every year to get medicine for her sick grandson. Throughout her journey she comes across many obstacles; animals in the wild, a harassing hunter, untied shoelaces, and snippety nurses. In spite of all these obstacles she carries on and trudges through her journey to get to her destination. (Welty, 1941) We would all be wise to take a lesson from Phoenix on carrying on through the tough
“A Worn Path” Essay Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" is a story about an old black woman who must hunt medicine for her sick nephew. Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist, must travel from the pinewoods where she lives and attempt to fight through the blizzarding cold to reach the hospital at the closest neighboring city of Natchez where she intends to find help. In this story, Welty exemplifies the concept that people can, and do overcome the trials and tribulations of life with the lasting hope and strength provided by loved ones. Here, it is the jeopardizing health issue of her nephew and ultimately her love for him that keeps her going. Welty illustrates this concept with her use of symbolism, dialogue, and conflict of the characters.