“In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.” (Friedrich Nietzche). Grandmothers may be the strongest person in every family. She cares for her every soul so much that she sometimes forgets that somethings are impossible. In the story “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty uses her character Phoenix Jackson to portray the theme of a grandmother’s unselfish love when she shows courage, selflessness, and sacrifice towards her grandson. Grandmothers can show the courage of three strong men. Ms. Jackson was not afraid of anything or anyone. As she walked through the woods she told the animals, “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbit, coons and wild animals!” Even when a dog scared her and she fell in a ditch and was helped, she continued her journey. The young man who helped her out, scared the dog away and then put her a gun to her head, but there she stood fearless. He asked was she afraid and she told him, “No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than I done.” She continued to town knowing that she would have to make the same journey home. Ms. Jackson showed how courageous she was by never giving up and continuing to persevere despite any difficulty. …show more content…
There isn’t much that can stand between a grandmother and the family they love. Ms. Jackson never thought twice about taking the trip to town. Not one time did she think of turning around and going back home. She put herself aside to take care of her grandson. She walked over a creek on a log, but she never told her self she couldn’t do it. All she thought of was she had a sick grandchild waiting on her. Like any mother, she put her needs aside to care for him. Even after falling in a ditch, she got up, dusted herself off, and kept
She thought about her family, and the neighbors, and the town, and the dogs next door, and everyone and everything she has ever met or seen. As she began to cry harder, she looked out the window at the stores and buildings drifting past, becoming intoxicated suddenly with the view before her. She noticed a young woman at the bus stop, juggling her children on one side of her, shielding them from the bus fumes.
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...
This story is so simple but tells more than just an old African American trip to town for medicine for her grandson. But from a great insight, Phoenix Jackson developed a sense of responsibility toward her grandson, who actually might be the only person in her life. The moral of the story tells about an old African American woman named Phoenix Jackson who was taking a journey from her home into town to seek some medication for her ill grandson. During this journey, the story describes Phoenix Jackson facing struggles and obstacles against her eye sight and old age, as well as nature’s obstacles, thorn bushes and barbed wire. Through these obstacles, Phoenix Jackson is able to depict her poetic view of the world through symbolism.
There is Phoenix Jackson she is a grandmother who always travels a long and horrible path that she takes in order to get her grandson medicine for him. Ms. Jackson is an older lady who is traveling in the middle of December “She was a very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows”. (Welty) While traveling in the woods Ms. Jackson gets tangled in a bush where here dress gets tangled but after she finally gets herself free she finally gets to the foot of the hill where she rests. Many of the events that happened in this story is not the normal that we have for today. For instance what older woman would go walking into the cold woods in December by herself and keeps walking until she is completely tired. While she is in the woods Ms. Jackson encounters a black dog that trips her and made her fall into a ditch. When the hunter who was with the dog came he helped her up and told her she needs to go back home instead if going into town. When the hunter helped her a nickel fell out of his pocket, when he left she picked it up and put it in her apron, once the hunter came back he pointed a gun to Ms. Jackson face and she stood there and faced him. When asked was she scared “No. sir I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day and for less than what I done” (Welty). This shows that Ms. Jackson is strong and even though she is older she is not the typical elderly person. After traveling
of the book, Janie resents her grandmother for “living” her life for her and planning her future. To find out what will happen in a persons future, they need to live their life on their own an...
In Mary Hoods “How Far She Went” A grandmother struggles with the burden of experience, loss and a life of unsparing decisions; where a girl strives to live in a naïve and free spirited illusion. The paths of a grandmother and her granddaughter soon collide when experience and naivety rendezvous on a dirt road in the south. “How Far She Went” illustrates how generational struggles and contretemps can mold people and predispose their lives and the way
There are multiple themes in this fictional story. Some themes presented in this story include racism, family, and responsibility. The most prominent theme is the age and perseverance, because the protagonist is predisposed to failure given her age but her tenacity keeps her going. “A Worn Path” tells the story of a courageous elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix endangers her life to get a charity medicine for her grandson, who is unable to fully heal because of a lye accident.
She is a manipulator when it comes to any aspect of her life. Ideally, the grandmother was selfish and care about herself. For instance, when the author has her saying “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (O’Connor). The author let it be known at that second that the grandmother was only thinking about herself. As if she was traveling with a group of strangers. Throughout the story, the grandmother shows that she can be dishonest towards her family. “She woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (O’Conner). The grandmother did this to manipulate the situation causing the ride to be delayed. Thus, she was lying to the children about the secret panel in the house. Therefore, she caused chaos in the car. The author made it seem that the grandmother was very content with that she has caused. Even when she realized that the location of the house that she was referring to was not up that road at all. But she remained quiet or did she know this along. She was quick to judge and tell someone what not to do. But she never turned her eye on herself. That she was selfish and dishonest to her
The Grandmother is a bit of a traditionalist, and like a few of O’Connor’s characters is still living in “the old days” with outdated morals and beliefs, she truly believes the way she thinks and the things she says and does is the right and only way, when in reality that was not the case. She tends to make herself believe she is doing the right thing and being a good person when in actuality it can be quite the opposite. David Allen Cook says in hi...
In the beginning of the story the negative characteristics of the grandmother are revealed. She is portrayed as being a very egocentric person. The grandmother is very persistent about getting her way. She appears to be very insensitive of the feelings of the other family members. She consistently tries to persuade the family to go to Tennessee rather than to Florida. Also, she rebelliously took the cat with her on the trip when she knew the others would object. As a result of her selfishness the family had to make a detour to stop and see the house that she insisted upon visiting.
Phoenix’s Grandson in “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty’s "A Worn Path" is a short story by Eudora Welty that discussions around an old lady who lives in a period portrayed by a wild and widespread racial bias. The old lady is alluded to as Phoenix Jackson in the story who a grandma who lives with a sole inspiration of supporting her sickly grandson back to wellbeing. Grandma Phoenix displays a solid love bond towards her grandson and will do farfetched and bizarre things. Eudora keeps in touch with her book through the focal thought of an old lady demonstrating her affection to her grandson by vanquishing all chances against her. Be that as it may, the reader does not get a reasonable picture on Phoenix's grandson.
The Grandmother often finds herself at odds with the rest of her family. Everyone feels her domineering attitude over her family, even the youngest child knows that she's "afraid she'd miss something she has to go everywhere we go"(Good Man 2). Yet this accusation doesn't seem to phase the grandmother, and when it is her fault alone that the family gets into the car accident and is found by the Misfit, she decides to try to talk her way out of this terrible predicament.
Who loves you more than Grandma? Phoenix Jackson is the main character and the protagonist of the story “A Worn Path”. The story is being told from the third person point of view. It gives the readers a vision about the setting and the woman’s body movement. According to Claxton, Welty had described the setting as a wintry morning and compares Phoenix movement as a clock and a bird.
Regretfully, though readers can see how Mama has had a difficult time in being a single mother and raising two daughters, Dee, the oldest daughter, refuses to acknowledge this. For she instead hold the misconception that heritage is simply material or rather artificial and does not lie in ones heart. However, from Mama’s narrations, readers are aware that this cultural tradition does lie within ones heart, especially those of Mama’s and Maggie’s, and that it is the pure foundation over any external definition.
If Cecilia goes to her grandmother’s, then she can build a close relationship with her. As said, Cecilia went to her grandmother’s house instead of going on her field trip. Cecilia’s grandmother remembers the time of the bonding of her and her mother as they left to the desert away from everything. Cecilia’s grandmother recalls the time of when she moved towards the desert for her mother’s illness; “I learned that winter how important family is” (2). When Cecilia’s grandma left everything to go with her ill mother to the desert, she built a strong relationship through their time together.