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.
And were buried in a mass grave. (The United Human Rights Council is a committee of the Armenian Youth Federation - Western United States. 2014) Clea Koffs involvement in the Rwanda Genocide case on the United Nations team is described as “her dream realized in the middle of a nightmare” (Christine Rousseau, 2005). Clea’s days spent in the hot sun and sometimes in the unforgiving rain, in the ditches which were mass graves, collecting the bones and assembling them to identify the victims, find the cause of death and give the victims a voice. Clea notes in her book (The Bone Woman) "There's a big temptation to be drowned in feelings and to let the effects of them take over the work.
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.
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.
Choosing to end the novel with ‘1973’ also indicates that Alice Walkers wants the reader to place the texts historically, after the years of the apartheid in America, when segregation was law. It also means that the reader may then understand why Dee is so confused about her identity and why her family find it so difficult to move on and away from their southern African American routes. ‘Everyday Use’ is specifically from a woman’s point of view, it is a personal account of a woman’s experience of history. Quilting for example was a huge part of African American culture for women, often associated with the south. ‘In the 1980’s, partially inspired by Walker’s works, many studies, including those by cultural and feminist critics such as Elaine Showalter, explored the relationship between the
Page 1 Title: A Worn Path Author: Eudora Wetly Setting: The setting of this story begins in 1941 in Southwestern Mississippi countryside in the fields and ends in the town of Natchez medical center. It was very early in the morning on a bright and frozen day in the month of December on Christmas day. Phoenix Jackson is a small and very old lady who started her day walking in the wilderness on her way towards town to pick up medicine for her grandson. She’s has been going back and forth trying to get medicine to sooth her grandson’s sore throat. Plot: The exposition of the story is about Phoenix Jackson an elder negro women with her courage and determination to go against all the odds against her that gives the impact in the story, The rising action of this story begins shortly after Phoenix Jackson went deeper and deeper down the road between high green colored banks.
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).
Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” • early December morning • Christmastime • PHOENIX JACKSON: o very old (she jokes she doesn’t know how old) o black o small o red ’do-rag o cane (umbrella used as) o long dress (dark striped) o long apron (from sugar sack) o walks slowly o walks side to side (cane) o unlaced shoes (can’t tie laces, can’t bend over) o skin = wrinkled like tree bark o skin = yellow burning under the dark o eyes = blue with age o hair = down to neck, in “frail” ringlets but still black, smells like copper (?) • skin & hair hint to a vitality under the age • DANGERS: o her age & frailty o untied shoelaces in the woods o animals o hill (up & down) o thorn bushes (snag her dress) o log over stream o barbed wire fence o bulls & snakes o alligators o no path through corn field o dog o strangers (white strangers, at that) • worried her dress won’t get torn – somewhere special to go • MYSTERY: o we don’t know where she’s going OR why she’s going there o until the end • hill: o always makes her tired,
Lester Faigley. Boston: Pearson/Longman, 2010. bookPrint. Section 2: Summary “Everyday Use,” by ???? is a story about a black family who was struggling to make it in life. The main character “Mama” takes the part as narrator in telling her story of her burnt down house and two daughters named Maggie and Dee.
“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.