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In the story “A Worn Path” uses a continuous number of literary techniques and there is an overflow of symbolism. In the story everything symbolizes an object symbolism is when an object in the story can relate to something. Symbolism is a literary technique that adds meaning to a story by using an event or object as a symbol to represent something else. Phoenix Jackson represents the most important thing in the story the ancient Egyptian bird the Phoenix. The story “A Worn Path” takes place in December 1941. It’s about an old lady named Phoenix Jackson that goes to town in Natchez, Mississippi to get some medicine for her grandson who had swallowed lye many years back. Phoenix faces some obstacles on her way to town that try to keep her from going to town, obstacles like the long path she has to walk, the wild animals bridges and people. She really does not receive that much respect because of her old age and her color. But Phoenix being the person she is continues on without letting anything get in her way of what she has to accomplish.
The main character in this story is Phoenix Jackson she symbolizes the phoenix bird which symbolizes strength. In an article Roberts, Edgar V. and Henry E. Jacobs point out that Phoenix Jackson symbolizes strength “she falls, gets back up and keeps on toward the goal of getting her grandson’s medicine. She has many obstacles in her way such as her old age, the cold weather, ditches and hills, thorns, wild animals and a hunter with a gun.” Phoenix keeps on pushing through her journey even though the way she is, she will not give up on her grandson because he is the only person he has left in life. (yahoo) According to Eudora Welty in the story “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson states “We is the onl...
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...to get through all the difficulties.
Works Cited
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Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1991. 1274. Print.
Word Press Editors. “An Analysis of Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’.” Wordpress. N.P. 12 Apr 2013. Web. 17 Mar 2014.
Welty Acknowledges her mother, and her impressionability in influencing her has the eager reader, great author and person that she is when writing this book. Welty remembers her mother “picking up The Man in lower ten while [her] hair got dried enough to unroll from a load of kid curlers trying to make [her] look like my idol, Mary Pickford” this suggests that if she copied both Mary Pickford and her mother, her mother was also her idol because her mother “was very sharing of [the] feeling of Insatiability”. This shows that Welty picked up reading from her mother and that’s and Welty’s mother knew her daughter was easily influenced which is why she said Welty was “too impressionable”. This then reveals to readers the root of Welty’s compassion for books as she was growing up. Welty also remembers “a generation later… “her mother “reading the new issue of time magazine while taking the part of the Wolf in a game ... with the children”. This shows that the passion within Welty’s mother, that influenced Welty as a young child to read, has not burned out. Due to that wetly wants readers to understand that her mother has influenced her whole life and career with her burning passion to read. This tells readers that Eudora Welty’s own passion for reading will never cease to
The title itself, “A Worn Path,” referred to life as the journey itself through a worn path. Obstacles that Phoenix Jackson faced shows the real-life hardships, lies, and aggressions, that minorities face. Despite its simplicity, Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” does show us some of the greatest of life’s reality.
“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.
Katherine Mansfield, author of “Miss Brill”, and Eudora Welty, author of “A Worn Path”, differ in their writing techniques, as well as, the portrayal of the two different women in the titles mentioned. “Miss Brill”, by Katherine Mansfield, is a woman, with a sense of entitlement, passing judgement during her traditional Sunday morning in the park. She later becomes upset when a young couple passes judgement on her. Phoenix Jackson, of “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, is the complete opposite character of Miss Brill. Jackson is a selfless, elderly woman, frail and losing her senses, who makes reoccurring trips to her ill Grandson’s doctor’s office to pick up a prescription. As a woman ages, despite the struggles that she has faced throughout
In "A Worn Path", a short story by Eudora Welty, the main character, an old colored woman named Phoenix, slowly but surely makes her way down a "worn path" through the woods. Throughout her journey, she runs into many obstacles such as a thorny bush and a hunter. She overcomes these obstacles and continues with her travels. She finally reaches her destination, the doctor’s office, where she gets medicine for her sick grandson back home. Many critics have speculated that this short story represents the love a grandmother shows for her grandson. Others say this story represents life and death, where Phoenix represents an immortal figure. Dennis J. Sykes disagrees with the other critics by saying, "A parallel exists between the journey described and the plight of the Southern blacks after the Civil War" (Sykes). Ultimately, Eudora Welty demonstrates how blacks have been persecuted in a white world.
“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.
Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path” emphasizes the unselfish love that inspires courage, sacrifice, and love through her use of symbolism.
Eudora Welty presents the short story “A Worn Path” in a remarkable way, revealing a lot of symbolism. It travels around multiple themes throughout the story about an old aged woman walking through a grueling trail to a town to gather medicine for her grandson in Mississippi. This short story takes places in December on a “bright frozen day” where an old Negro woman arises by the name of Phoenix Jackson. I believe she signifies a struggle, but when looking at her a bit deeper, she mostly signifies willpower (Welty, 502). As she goes towards the town on the path, she appears to have walked numerous times before; she has to overcome many problems. What’s important is that with each move she takes it looks to be pretty sluggish, but yet a steady move in the direction of her goal. The story gives an understanding to the determination and confidence of Phoenix Jackson to point out the belief of people in identical lives of endless struggle. In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty reveals the idea that sometimes our lives can be a lot like an obstacles course, which are made up of difficulties that we have to overcome somehow.
In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, she introduces readers to an African American woman by the name of Phoenix Jackson. Jackson is the epitome of an upstanding human being; she makes a tedious and enduring journey in the dead of winter to get medicine for her ill grandson. As Jackson travels along, the author carefully places symbolism throughout the story. The path itself represents a human beings journey through life and the trials Phoenix faces along the way represent the obstacles in life. The medicine Phoenix receives is symbolic of personal goals in life, and the windmill she buys for her grandson is symbolic of the reward people receive after they overcome obstacles in life. All three symbols carry parallelism to Christian beliefs. The
At the beginning of the scene, "Old Phoenix said, "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!.... Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites... Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let any of those come running my direction. I got a long way." In this scene, the reader sees no matter how long the path or what she faces that she will not stop until she meets her mark. In one scene Phoenix is saved from a dog attacking her by the hunter, and the hunter says "Well, I scared him off that time," he said, and then he laughed and lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix." In this scene, Phoenix is now encountering another obstacle which is the hunter. the hunter tries to persuade or commands her to leave the trail saying "Now you go on home Granny!" Even though some may say, this was either to protect Phoenix from getting hurt since she is a senior woman or either it was for the amusement of the hunter, regardless of this reason this scene shows that this was an obstacle that was put in her way to stop Phoenix from reaching her goal. Phoenix's enders from her age, Even though she steals money from him, the story says that a hunter is a white man, in which this shows that the hunter's attitude towards her could have been to display racism. Since "The Worn Path" was written in 1941 and it seems to take place around that time. From this scene, one sees that Phoenix displays courage and As a modernist, the author wants to show no matter what race or age through determination a person can endure any
In the story A Worn Path, Eudora Welty shows an old woman living in a time period where racial prejudice is rampant and out of control. Phoenix Jackson is a grandmother whose only motivation for living is to nurture her grandson back to health. The strength of love may make people do or say unusual and implausible things. The central idea of this story is that love can empower someone to over come many life-threatening obstacles. The idea is shown when an old woman conquers all odds against her to show her everlasting love for her grandson. Throughout the story Phoenix Jackson has to overcome many types of obstacles that hinder her in her devotion to help her grandson.
Sykes, Dennis J. "Welty's The Worn Path." Explicator 56.3 (1998): 151. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
Shorter 8th ed. of the book. New York: Norton, 2013. Print. The.
Welty, Eudora. ?The Worn Path.? Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PH, 2001. 150-155.
In Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson went great lengths risking her own life for her grandson, who couldn’t help himself. On her worn path she faced the world with courage. Although she faced difficulty in her early life, her faith remained the same to help those who were dear to her heart. She walk a worn path relentlessly facing obstacles along the way with a mind that is diminishing overtime. Through the problems that she is faced with, she remains humble. She is admirable because considering her old age, weakness and loss of memory, she is determined. Welty’s details of character, symbolism, conflict and theme creates a compelling and fierce Phoenix Jackson. The moral message in this short story is to show the setting and characterizations