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.
Addy was still weak from the efforts of her labour, and still sore and bleeding, but she knew she had to leave and she had to leave today" (Lansens 271). Then, when Addy loses Chick, she handles the situation in a better way: "She would not pass through the big oak doors though. Instead she climbed the fire escape stairs, stepping around Mr. Baldwin's winter wood and kindling, intent on keeping her memories at bay" (Lansens 472). Addy is able to overcome the feeling of hurt fast after the death of her second child because she already faces a similar dilemma with her first child. She leaves a whole country to conquer the feeling of loss of her first child whereas she simply decides to ignore the passage her family used to take together in her building after her second child dies.
A Worn Path A Worn Path is a short story written by Eudora Welty in 1941. The short story displays race, age, devotion, fabrication and symbolical narratives. The tale took place in Mississippi, around the time when slavery was possibly coming to a halt. Here you have an elderly lady by the name of Phoenix Jackson, which was very poor with no money or education. During Phoenix journey she traveled alone through the dark pinewood shadows and she talks aimlessly amongst herself.
For example, they met a woman named Mary Ellen who made part of their trip rather unpleasing. She made rude remarks and criticized them, making Katz seem like a pleasing companion to be with. Eventually, they ditched her and they felt bad until they found out that she dropped out like many others do. Bryson and Katz met numerous people along the way but wouldn’t see many hikers on the trail at all. Their interesting run-ins are what made the story interesting and fast paced.
Literary Analysis “Everyday Use” In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, there are three main characters. The mother, youngest daughter Maggie, and Dee, the oldest daughter who is trying to leave her past behind while attempting to find herself and her African heritage as she thinks it should be. There has always been an unspoken jealousy between Mama and the oldest daughter. Dee is seeking a way out of the poverty and oppression of the times, so much, that while she was away at school she had changed her name to one that has an African meaning while omitting any trace of her current true history. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo is Dee’s new name.
Many hero’s journeys take place in Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club. It tells the stories of four immigrant women from China and their four American-born daughters. Each of the mothers has a tragic past in China that she wants to share with her daughter. Each of these women struggles to find her identity and understand one another. One of the unforgettable women, An-mei Hsu, enters the dark forest and embarks on a dangerous journey when she chooses to leave her family and go with her mother.
Comparatively, she is unexpectedly thrown into the unknown when her family dies and she is left to help the community and forget about her needs. As the panic sets in when she enters the shaft, she is facing more and more doubts about her future separately. Brooks also shows the reader an insight into the world of the people living with the Plague: dark, dangerous, and seemingly hopeless. Overall, Brooks uses symbolism to show aspects of the Plague’s influence on Anna and the town in
Really, what is the theme of these novels? In The Girl Named Disaster, Nhamo is the main character, the storyline revolving around her. Although many readers would say the obvious theme is strength, courage, or survival, I seem to have found that the center theme of this novel was Nhamo herself. Nhamo has struggled with problems even before her journey to Zimbabwe. Her aunt’s unwilling adoption after her mother’s death was the main tragedy that occurred before the first pages of the book.
Once Again In the novel “A yellow Raft in blue water”, author Michael Dorris gives us different themes to look at. There are themes of racism, power struggle, and conflict between appearances and inescapable reality. The story focuses around the lives of three generations of Native American women. Rayona, daughter of Christine, is a very reserved, intelligent, and quiet girl while her mother is more obnoxious, rebellious, and loud. Rayona is of mixed blood, half black and half Indian, and this creates a lot of struggles for her.
The prose extract takes about how the persona has gone back to her childhood backyard, which is rusty and aged, and her hours swinging on the clothes line and climbing trees. The persona takes about how she is not a child anymore and that sense of freedom has long left her as responsibilities and age seep into her. As the persona reminisces, there is a definite tone of regret and loss as she describes the backyard. One very powerful metaphor present, is the last line of the extract “unlikely the washing line could support me this time…too many things tying me to the ground”. This line is both literal and metaphoric.