Betrayal, Religion and Death in "A Worn Path" and "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"

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Recommended: Racism in literature

With repeated reading of each story, the similarities between Eudora Welty’s, A Worn Path, and Katherine Anne Porter’s, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall become more apparent. Both stories are about women who differ in race and social status; however, both stories interweave themes of betrayal, religion, death, and the characters personal journeys through life.

Phoenix Jackson emerges in "A Worn Path" as a character who possesses extraordinary strength of will. Not only is she an aged, blind, black female who is on a journey through torturous terrain to secure medication for her ill grandson, but she is a symbol of poverty and selflessness, which contrasts the wealth, and self-centeredness of the white society in which she lives.

As you read the story A Worn Path, the theme of betrayal becomes apparent. The story occurs during the Christmas season in and around Natchez, Mississippi. At this time racism was a societal norm, even in the Bible belt areas where Christianity flourished. The protagonist, Phoenix, is betrayed by a society run by white people who have little respect or ...

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