The Worn Path

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“The Worn Path” Written by Eudora Welty In the short story “The Worn Path” by Eudora Welty there are echoes of melancholy and longing for forbidden fruit represented by love and wealth. The story intertwines the fruits of labor, lust and love and warmly wraps the softness of perils roughly handled for all to see. Even the title itself, “The Worn Path” weaves this thread of colors foreshadowing bluffs beyond one’s control. Are the bluffs lies or truths? The worn path tells the reader to be cautious on the path chosen in life. For that path has been walked before by many who have become stabbed in the heart. The irony of pain is the gain in richness. Is the key to richness in material possession or is the wealth earned through inner desires called love. What is love, then? The exploration for answers is heightened in; “The Worn Path” which can be journeyed through the vehicle of song. Hence a comparative between, “The Pretender” and “The River” and the story “The Worn Path” makes for an interesting fusion of knowledge almost like the supple soil needed to grow. This essay treads “The Worn Path” to explore the notion of materialism and that ideal called love by using a comparative of two songs, “The River” and “The Pretender” to explain richness in life. Phoenix Jackson proves the struggle to find the path to love can be challenging and wrought with insecurities that can fool you. Yet the path to love can be desirous if virtues of patience and respect are tendered. Phoenix Jackson is an old woman whose wisdom showed her age yet her mind is filled with knowledge about the journey of life and love. She is an exceptional character drawn by the love she has for her grandson. She journeys through many obstacles, “thorns,….a log,… a barbed- wire fence…a field of dead corn” (444; 445) just to get medicine for her grandson in town. In “The River” tells how youthful

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