A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

A Worn Path is a short story by Eudora Welty, in which an old woman named Phoenix Jackson walks a very long way to get medicine for her grandson. The title itself is a foreshadow to the rough journey that she will be undertaking in the story. The story mostly sheds light on the story of Phoenix Jackson, who is the protagonist of the story, however there is no clear antagonist present. During the journey along the worn path, there is little to no character development, and due to that fact, the grandma could be described as a flat and static character due to how uncomplicated her character is. However, what makes the character so unique is the motivation, to get medicine for her grandson, that drives her to go through such lengths in cold weather using an umbrella as a cane.
The setting of the story is near the Old Natchez Trace, Mississippi, however it changes from the forest and streams in the exposition, to a corn field in the rising action, road in the

As Eudora Welty describes, “her eyes 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 ran underneath, and the two knob oh her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark.” Image such as blue eyes and golden color give audience an idea of what to picture as they read the story. The author keeps a calm yet serious tone in the story and the language used by the author is figurative. She uses, imagery, symbols and personification. Welty personifies the grandma’s forehead to a tree when she states, “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.” In that quotation, Welty compares the grandma’s forehead to a tree because the wrinkles on her forehead symbolizes a tree full of