Eudora Welty’s “A worn Path” talks about a elderly black woman by the name of Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix travels through the pinewoods all alone with her small cane and eyes blue with age. She encounters many hardships including disrespect. Phoenix does have a goal during her journey and it was to get medicine for her grandson because he swallowed lye. The theme of the story was that Phoenix would go through many hardships, disrespect, and loneliness for the love of her grandson.
The old lady, despite her age and difficulty to walk, is determined to get to town to get medicine for her sick grandson. She uses her “ thin and small cane made from an umbrella” to get around. The narrator clearly explains the condition of the “deep and still” woods and how they prevent her from advancing: “ Something always take a hold of me on this hill – pleads I should stay.” Thorny bushes would grasp her dress, trapping her. But her steadfastness continued on as she dangerously crossed the log across the creek where she could have easily fallen regarding her physical state. “I wasn’t as old as I thought.” She would say.
After overcoming this first obstacle and on her trip down the hill, "a bush caught her dress" (Welty, “Path” 2). She says that the thorns are "doing your appointed work" and that they "Never want to let folks pass- no sir" (Welty, “Path” 2). This is a personal loss because it is her favorite dress that has been tore by what she thought was a pretty little green bush. However, after struggling against them, Phoenix "trembling all over" stands "free" (Welty, “Path” 2). Phoenix was held up by the thorn bush and she sacrifices her own body from the pain she endures, but that won’t stop her from keep on moving.
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.
It is amazing that only through great hardships, such as Esch having to fight Manny and her finding out that she is pregnant, could she receive true insight. Unfortunately, Esch’s blindness cost her her childhood and possibly a natural relationship with someone her own age. Blindness can normally be defined as the inability of one to see, but according to Fuertes and Ward, blindness is not only a physical impairment, but also a “mental flaw” that can consume someone and can be rather “unfortunate”. One of Ward's more subtle themes in her novel, Salvage the Bones, is that of blindness. Esch, the main character and heroine of the award-winning novel by Jesmyn Ward that portrays the life of a rural Mississippi family before, after, and during Hurricane Katrina, embodies Ward’s theme of subconscious blindness, by showing it to be the primary cause of Esch’s bad decisions and self-loathing.
During Phoenix journey she traveled alone through the dark pinewood shadows and she talks aimlessly amongst herself. She constantly looked up into the skies as if she was asking for slight request in a prayer form. There were also a few idioms placed with in the short story for example, “a yellow burning under the dark, keep out from under these feet and an odor like copper” (Welty 2-3). There are quite a few ways you may perceive this story; I felt that the writer was stereotyping black women of the past when I first read the story. From the way the story was written it talked about black women’s hairstyle, clothes they wore, lack of education, and the certain usage of words.
The group was growing apart and it just wasn’t like it used to be. In “A Rose for Emily”, the story describes the females struggle in the mundane reality Emily lives in. She tried compromising but fell into the tragedy. In the quotation, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town…” here she is remembered as marvelous you could say, she was an object of fascination. Many people feel compelled to protect her, whereas others feel free to monitor her every move, a kind of yin and yang or mundane and marvelous.
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
She lives in a small community who travels through the fields and wilderness to get medicine for her sick grandchild. It is a cold December day and when the Earths ground is slippery and unknown; she still finds the determination and will power to travel the distance from the love she feels within. A phoenix is a strong-willed bird, which often represents ‘a rise from the ashes’ or rebirth, and also symbolizes inner strength and a long life. The main character, Phoenix, shows these characteristics as she makes her journey. Although she is old and fragile, she never gives up.
“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.