“There was a flicker and then a flame of comprehension across her face, and she spoke.” shows Jackson’s metaphorical rebirth. Phoenix Jackson can be seen as a Christ figure. Retrieving the medicine soothing medicine for her permanently sick grandson can be viewed as God’s grace. She can also be seen as a biblical hero as she has to face temptation and trials on her journey but succeeds unharmed. On her journey, a log is placed across a creek in which Phoenix must cross.
Welty illustrates this concept with her use of symbolism, dialogue, and conflict of the characters. Right at the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the protagonist, Phoenix Jackson. Here, already, Welty has given her a name of symbolic meaning. The name Phoenix is symbolic of an ancient Egyptian myth about a sacred bird that burned itself by flying to the sun, rose from the dead, and was reborn. Likewise, Phoenix Jackson is described as an elderly woman who is old and wrinkly, but has a golden hue to her skin which is reminiscent of the ancient bird’s feathers.
In stories, usually, we think of our traditional hero as a young and strong undefeatable man. In Eudra Welty’s short story “A Worn Path”, it is obviously not the case. Pheonix Jackson, an old shortsighted poor woman may not look as our traditional hero but she goes through a series of events where she displays all the qualities of one. At the start of her journey, we can easily perceive Phoenix’s steadfastness through the woods up a hill. The old lady, despite her age and difficulty to walk, is determined to get to town to get medicine for her sick grandson.
One survivor that stuck out was Margaret Hastings, as she had a personality that was funny, and serious that couldn’t be disliked. Margaret is an emotional character, however it was overpowered by her strength. When Sergeant Laura Besley died, “Margaret knew that [the shoes] came from the body of her good friend and double date partner. (...) Wearing Laura’s shoes might be the difference between life and death” (Zuckoff 75). Margaret Hastings was mourning the life of her friend, however her survival instincts and her strength overpowered the sadness coming from the loss of Laura.
Soon after a young white man with a gun comes along and he laughs at Phoenix and ask what she was doing there. The white man pointed his gun at Phoenix as she stood straight and faced him. He asked her if the gun scared her and she replied “No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, Page 2 and for less then what I done”. The crises in this short story is the determination to get her grandson’s medicine to sooth his sore throat. There is also her determination by speaking up to the nurse and telling her after beginning humiliated “ We is the only two left in the world” and “ My little grandson, he sits up there in the house all wrapped up waiting by himself.
Welty is known to have cherished and be fond of mythological creatures, and is where she gets the name of the protagonist, Phoenix. In fact, the “Phoenix” is said to be a mythological firebird that lives 500 years and then dies, but rises again from its own ashes. This old woman represents the “Phoenix,” which shows that the protagonist keeps on living on in her old age and seems to have reborn from slavery, “seems like there is chains about my feet” (96). The way Welty describes the woods to have “dark pine shadows” (95), often being “deep and still” (95) and some even looking like “dead trees” (96) is the complete opposite of Phoenix’s character. Although she may not be wealthy, she is very “neat and tidy” (95).
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.
In truth, Helens death impacted me greatly. To this day I miss her dearly; she was my one and only real friend at Lowood. If it was not for miss Temple or Helen Burns I would still be the over dramatical and overly emotional child I was today. “Her grave is in Brocklebridge Churchyard: for fifteen years after her death it was only covered by a grassy mound; but now a grey marble tablet marks the spot, inscribed with her name, and the world ‘Resurgam’.” I now speak calmly of my experiences at Lowood institution with Mr Brocklehurst because I have learnt to accept unjust hatred towards me. I shall never forget the day that man which has “such great values” that man which constantly refers to the bible can cruelly and horribly punish me publicly.
In the novel The Outsiders, SE Hinton does present many of the Greasers as heroes because by the way they respond to situations. The main heroes in the book are: Ponyboy, Dally’s and Johnny. As heroes, they saved the children in the burning church. But all greasers are heroes in my eyes when they save Ponyboy, from the Socs because they had surrounded Ponyboy and they were about to cut his hair. Heroes are people who put their safety of others before the safety of themselves.
“Parker’s Back” response In most of Flannery O’Connor’s stories, a character experiences a moment of grace, usually brought about by a single violent event. Grace enters the character willingly and effortlessly if he is ready for it, but upon the circumstance that he is not, it will only hurt him. In “Parker’s Back”, O.E. Parker exemplifies a character who, due to his unpreparedness for grace, misinterprets it. After the tractor that Parker drives crashes into a tree and bursts up in flames, Parker experiences a newfound belief in God and proceeds to get a tattoo of God’s face on his back.