A Worn Path “A Worn Path” is a short story written by Eudora Welty. It is a story of an elderly black woman’s journey into town for her grandson’s medicine. Using lots of imagery throughout the story, the narrator tells us that the woman, Phoenix Jackson takes this dangerous journey out of love for her grandson who is in need of medicine. Throughout her journey, she encounters many people who are of great importance to the story. The protagonist of this short story is Phoenix Jackson. She is portrayed as a lively person because of the vivid color descriptions given by the author. Her complexion is described to have yellow, golden and copper colors. This colors state she is a black woman. The author uses imagery to shows us that Phoenix is …show more content…
We know this because the hunter states, “I know you old colored people! Wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus!”(Welty, 1941, p.22). On this chilly morning, an elderly black woman named Phoenix Jackson was making her way into town to get medicine for her grandson who swallowed lye. She was walking slowly but surely, tapping along with a cane in her hand. While she was on the Natchez Trace in the forest, she would talk to the animals and the thorny bushes telling them to stay out her way. The story begins to get more interesting after she crosses the stream. When she sits down to rest under the tree, she tries to take the slice of cake from a boy, but when she opens her eyes she finds her hand stretched out, taking nothing. The terrain gets so difficult, that Phoenix mistakes the crow for a ghost. She blames these mistakes on her eyesight and her old age. The climax of the story is when she encounters the hunter and his dogs. The hunter draws and points his gun at the old woman. While pointing his gun at her he asked if she was afraid to which she answered no. After this encounter, Phoenix reaches the town where everything is decorated for Christmas. Her journey ends with her getting the medicine for her grandson and nickel to buy a present for her
In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson picks a cold December day to make yet another perilous journey to a near by city to get medicine for her ailing grandson. On the way this old woman faces many obstacles, both natural and man-made. Phoenix draws upon her perseverance and willingness to sacrifice herself to help her throughout her journey, but it is the undying love for her grandson that truly guides and drives her to her final goal. She is described as being a very old woman. “Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color run underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark (Welty 386). These all show an indication of her old age. Also, her loss of memory indicates her old age. It was only until Phoenix reached the doctor’s office she remembered why she went on her journey. “My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my trip”(Welty 394). Another character in the story was a white man who was a hunter. When Phoenix falls in the ditch, he helps her out of the ditch. Even though the hunter helps Phoenix, he still poses as a threat to her, because it seems he did not want her to finish her journey. This is made apparent when he states, “Why, that’s too far! That’s as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for my trouble”(Welty 391). In addition, like her name, Phoenix seems ageless. When she stops to drink water from the spring she says, “Nobody know who made this well, for it was here when I was born”(Welty 391). When she encounters the hunter and he asks her how old she is she says, “There is no telling, mister, “said, “no telling” (Welty 392). Again her age is emphasized when she goes to the doctor’s office and the nurse ask her why she never went to school. “I never did go to school, I was too old a...
“A Worn Path” tells of an elderly and frail black woman and of the hardships that she must overcome. Upon reading the story, you realize that there is more to the story than meets the eye. She faces many roadblocks along her way. Phoenix faces many dangerous obstacles along her way, for a person of her age. She faces racism from some of characters she meets along the way. Phoenix faces inferior treatment, as though she is nothing more than some insect to squash. This story is about not only her ‘journey’ to Natchez, but also about her journey through society and the struggle to overcome the dangers, being treated inferior, and the racism.
A Worn Path, is a short story about a little old lady who took this big adventure just to get some medicine for her sick grandson. The grandson was sick because he ended up swallowing lye two years ago. The short story really shows the extent a family member would go just to see you happy. The grandmother had started to have a short memory loss, even though she blamed it on her lack of education, it may have been because of her old age. Eudora Welty uses fluctuating tone, symbols, and settings in the short story.
“A Worn Path” is a short story written by Eudora Welty. It is based on an elderly African-American grandmother named Phoenix Jackson, who goes for a walk to the town of Natchez on a cold December morning to get some medicine for her ailing grandson. This story speaks of the obstacles Phoenix endured along the way and how she overcame them. The theme, central idea or message that the author wishes to convey to his or her readers, in “A Worn Path” is one of determination. Phoenix Jackson is determined to get to Natchez, in order to get medicine for her grandson; she does not let any obstacles get in her way. The theme of determination is shown in many ways throughout this short story.
A Worn Path is a short story written by Eudora Welty a native of Mississippi who wrote extensively about the Natchez Trace. It is a tale of struggle, selflessness, and determination in its greatest sense. The geographical setting is in the south near the town of Natchez around the 1930s, that is evident through the slang and actions of the characters. The point of the story is to present symbolism of the legend of the Phoenix and numerous other things, show similes, irony, and metaphors while holding the reader's interest.
In the short story, “A Worn Path”, Eudora Welty uses normal everyday things and occurences to symbolize the ups and downs of life. Eudora Welty’s story is a web entwined with metaphors and similes that link all the usual southern activities of that time period to deeper meaning. With this complex story, Welty reveals Phoenix Jackson’s quest.
Phoenix Jackson is an elderly black woman who struggles to walk, has poor vision, and she is very fatigue. Phoenix Jackson is the symbol of perserverance, stamina, redemption, faces racial prejudice, and life in the face of hardship and death. She is a brave woman who would endure many obstacles to get ,medicine for her grandson. She faces many dangers in the Natchez trail sacrificing everything with determination to make sure her grandson gets better. She has selfless concern for her grandson. The author conveys Phoenix Jackson as a woman of true spirit and self-sacrifice.
Eudora Welty’s Phoenix Jackson, the old African American woman in “A Worn Path,” is primarily an altruistic human being. Welty gives us a picture of Phoenix when she states that, “She wore a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes” (par. 2). Despite Phoenix’s ragged appearance, she is on an important journey to alleviate the suffering of her dear grandson, which brings upon an enlightened and enduring characteristic about her. Welty reveals Phoenix’s qualities in three areas of the story: Phoenix’s name, the journey, and the visit to
A Worn Path is the story of an aged woman named Phoenix who makes a treacherous journey into town. During this journey Phoenix encounters many obstacles, including a large black dog, thorny bushes, and barbed wire. She meets a white hunter on her way into town, pocketing a nickel he drops accidentally. Phoenix also asks a woman to stop and tie her shoes, because she does deem it appropriate to have untied shoes in a nice building. Her reason for traveling to Natchez is to pick up medicine for her ill grandson, who swallowed lye a few years before. Phoenix tells the doctor that the damage to his throat never completely heals, and his throat often begins to swell shut. Phoenix’s love for her grandson causes her to face the trial of the journey
The literature “a worn path” by Eudora Welty is a story about family love and dedication, also the author uses characterization, imagery, and does not reveal the initial conflict until the end of the story. The initial idea of the novel is an old lady named Phoenix Jackson trying to find her way to town for an unknown reason. During this journey she encounters different people and different situations. She even forgets her purpose of the journey at the end, but rediscovers the endgame of her quest, she seems to have vision problems and sometimes her mind might wander. The story as a whole and how an old lady does these frequent but far walks to town are heartwarming. In this story there is an abundance of imagery as there
Phoenix Jackson in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" has been compared to the mythological phoenix because of her birdlike qualities, and it's also been noticed that Phoenix possesses many of the same characteristics as Christ. But, what hasn't been addressed is the fact that Eudora Welty didn't just leave the symbolism to Christ alone. Welty also included many biblical allusions as well. Phoenix Jackson is not only symbolic of the mythological bird that rose from the ashes of its own demise or simply a Christ figure comparable to the Son of God, but she is also a biblical hero facing temptation and trials along her journey and succeeds unharmed and steadfast in her faith.
Sometimes, journey becomes the epitome of certain abstract ideas such as determination, boldness, and heroism. The story, “The Worn Path” by Eudora Welty is such a story of the journey of an African-American elderly woman, who is resolute in obtaining the medicine for her grandson, suffering from the swallowed lye in his throat (Kathleen 14). Eudora Welty has designed a story with an aim to show grandma’s persistence in perilous settings such as fear of animals, settings of woods, rivers, hills, rocky path and her journey towards the city on the cold winter day, far from her village and as a final point, her success to get a medicine from
No matter where you are, you will be judged by your looks. People will make assumptions about others based on what they observe of that person, just from their appearance. This natural human behaviour is a fundamental truth, and is common all over the world, but it is most prominently displayed in the southern states of America. What people see is what they will assume. But often, there can be a huge difference in a person’s appearance and character. This is exceptionally true in the case of Phoenix Jackson, in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’. Looking at Phoenix, one would not be impressed. She is a poor frail old woman, and would be expected to be weak in character and in mind. But, throughout the story, she shows that her frail demeanor doesn’t represent the strong virtues of Phoenix. By demonstrating her mental and physical resiliency, bravery, and compassionate selflessness, we know that her character is strong.
'A Worn Path' is the tale of the unstoppable love and care of a grandmother for her grandchild. Phoenix Jackson is Eudora Welty's main character and protagonist in A Worn Path.? Phoenix is an old, frail woman who attempts to proceed on a long and treacherous journey through the woods to Natchez. Phoenix strives forward despite frequent obstacles in her way that include her own failing health and her grandchild's slim chance of survival. As she takes this prolonged trek across the woods, many of her characteristics are revealed. Her tenacity, senility, and consideration that she displays throughout her long worn path emphasize her character.
Eudora Welty's “ A Worn Path” depicts the journey of Phoenix Jackson, an elderly black woman who alone embarks on an arduous trek through the Natchez Trace so she can retrieve medicine for her ill grandson. On her journey, Phoenix experiences multiple obstacles including her own failing health, wild animals, the terrain and a threatening hunter. When she takes on this prolonged trek through the Natchez Trace, many of her characteristics are revealed. Her tenacity, senility and patience emphasize her character.