Determination over Temptation
Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” is based on a time period of racism and white supremacy. Welty was inspired to write this story when she saw an old African American woman crossing a landscape with a purpose and wanted to write about the possible motive for the trip. Phoenix Jackson is an old African- American woman who endures many struggles along a journey to obtain medicine for her ill grandson. Although, the odds were against Phoenix throughout the story and she was constantly tempted to just go back home, she was determined to complete the journey. In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty uses the characterization and symbolism of Phoenix to illustrate her overcoming of many struggles in order to fulfill her obligation
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In the beginning of the short story she states, “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 none of those come running my direction. I got a long way” (Welty 1). She struggled to see and walk and having animals crossing her path made it difficult to keep a steady pace. Phoenix showed how determined she was when she said “I got a long way” (Welty 1) and she was going to not let anything get in her way. Welty used phrases like this based off the appearance the old woman gave when she saw her crossing the landscape in real life. Welty also has great imagery throughout the story and describes how the path taken was an enduring struggle for someone Phoenix’s age. Between the steep hills, thorny bushes, crossing creeks, and avoiding ditches, Welty wanted to demonstrate how hard the trip would be for the old woman. It is only safe to travel during the day when light is out so Phoenix had to race against time to avoid the dark. She is aware that she has to complete the trip before dark strikes and time starts to run out for her grandson when she says, “The time getting all gone her” (Welty 1). Welty includes this as a main struggle to represent how as a poor woman she cannot afford to stay anywhere so she has to be back home. Sykes relates Phoenix to the whole African American race when he says, “Like Phoenix, they endured an endless struggle, if not against scurrying hogs, then against the thorny bush that “never want to let folks pass” (1). Sykes tried to express how Phoenix struggling through her environment to get to the city is actually Welty wanting to illustrate how African Americans had to suffer through life with obstacles not letting them
In the short story "A Worn Path," the message that Eudora Welty sends to the readers is one of love, endurance, persistence, and perseverance. Old Phoenix Jackson walks a long way to town, through obstacles of every sort, but no obstacle is bad enough to stop her from her main goal. She may be old and almost blind, but she knows what she has to do and won't give up on it. Her grandson has swallowed lye, and she has a holy duty of making her way to town in order to get medicine for him. The wilderness of the path does not scare her off. She stumbles over and over, but she talks herself through every obstacle. Undoubtedly, the theme of perseverance is what Eudora Welty wants to point out to her readers. Just like the name Phoenix suggests
When Phoenix is walking early in the morning she is amongst the pine trees that seems to engulf her, she shows her determination as she lumbers along the trail. With the motion in her step going from side to side in a manner that would sagest the pace that she is keeping, although is a slow in general, may be a little quicker then she would normally be maintaining. This would be so that she could return before the sun goes down with the medicine for her little grandson. She knows this trail very well and walks with confidence, persistently taping the ground with her cane, possible not even looking at where it is her feet are landing. Upon the way she stops to scold and warn the foxes, and other small animals she was visualizing to stay out of her way that she had a far walk and that she must be getting on her way. She says this with a tone in her voice which I imagine to be a voice that a older women uses when they mean business and must finish what they set out to do. Phoenix waves her cane much like someone would at a horse, to persuade it to continue on the path.
It’s December when Phoenix starts on her journey to Natchez and it is a journey she has taken many times before. This journey is no journey an elderly and weaken person should have to make by themselves, yet Phoenix does. She does not allow her age or her condition to keep her from it. Deep through the pines, the path takes her, and her first task would be to make it over a hill that seems to take all her energy and strength. “Seems like there is chains around my feet, time I get this far…” (Welty 5), here the reader can tell Phoenix does not have the strength that she really needs to make it up the hill. Yet somewhere she finds the will to keep pushing on and moving forward. This same type of spirit that allows Phoenix to keep pushing forward in society, and not to back down. Showing the younger generation that you have to fight your way through to a brighter day. It is later down the path that Phoenix comes to a creek and the only way to get across, is by walking on a log. Phoenix walks across this log with her eyes close. Once across she opens her eyes and says, “I wasn’t as old as I ...
In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”, an elderly woman goes through trial for the greater good. Ms. Phoenix Jackson goes on a journey, most people could not take, to save her grandson’s life. Rachel Lister, an author of Literary Context in Short Stories Collections: Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’, states what kind of person Phoenix is: “[A] female subject [that] makes her way through a wood on a mission to help the afflicted” (par. 5). She goes through obstacles to get to her destination: she is attacked by a black dog, she goes through a barbed wire fence, she encounters a white hunter, and etc. Rachel Lister implies, “She faces a series of challenges and temptations” (par. 5). Nevertheless she is ambitious to finish her journey, although it is a cold winter day. “A Worn Path” is full of symbolism. Rachel Lister asserts, “The chains …, the thorns, and the barbed wire symbolizes the continuing oppression which restricts the social mobility of the African American people in the south” (par. 5). Ms. Phoenix is just not a character but she is a symbol for hope. Her character is portrayed as a Christ-like figure. She goes these trials to save her grandson from death...
“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty is a short fictional story first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1941. Welty was an American short-story writer and novelist. Welty was a photographer before she started writing so her stories were as detailed as her photographs. Some reccurring themes she used in her literary pieces were social prejudice, isolation, and southern living. This short story includes these common themes she favored throughout her works. 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.
...ation. As Phoenix continues down her path, she runs into many hindrances that must be overcome. Sykes believes“Phoenix [considers racial] conflicts are just stones in the road, obstacles in the path” (np). Eudora Welty writes this story to tell of the maltreatment of blacks and to bring this issue into the light. She uses subtle and obvious symbols to prove how blacks have been treated throughout life and how many have just considered the obstacles in their path of life just like pebbles they need to pass on the road.
In the short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, An old woman named Phoenix walks a long way town.While walking her skirt got caught on in a bush. She sits by a lake and when she does she imagines a boy giving her cake. She goes into a dead corn field and she sees a figure that she thinks is man but it turns out to be a scarecrow. She lays on the ground talking to herself when a hunter passes her. He drops a nickel and she take it. Once she reaches town she ask a women to tie her shoes. Once, the lady is done she goes into the building. The attendant ask Phoenix is there and she says to get medicine for her grandson.The lady gives Phoenix five cents. Phoenix says she going to use it to buy her son a windmill. Phoenix responses well to rudeness.
“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.
In the story The Worn Path by Eudora Welty, the main character Phoenix Jackson portrays a personality of a hero even in the hardest times. She is an African American elder who is a grandmother of a boy who is very sick. He swallowed lye which could have potentially killed the young boy. She decided that she needed to help him and walked along a determined journey into town for the hospital. She went through many obstacles slowing her down and hurting her not only physically but mentally.
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.
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.
There are also mental obstacles that obstruct Phoenix’s journey. She has to triumph over her weariness because of her old age and her mental fatigue. As she is walking her mind plays tricks on her, such as the time when she is in the field and mistakes the scarecrow for a dark mysterious figure that she is frightened of. Another time is when she talks to herself and the animals in the woods. She tells them not to get in her way because she has a long trip ahead of her. The love that one person gives to another is never truly appreciated until the recipient realizes what that person has actually done. The grandson may be too ill or even too young to realize what his grandmother is doing for his safety.
In “A Worn Path” colors are used to emphasize the depth and breadth of the story, and to reinforce the parallel images of the mythical phoenix and the protagonist Phoenix Jackson. Eudora Welty’s story is rich with references to colors that are both illustrative and perceptive, drawing us in to investigate an additional historical facet of the story.
Phoenix's precarious journey may seem dangerous, but her determination is what carries her through the obstacles she faces as she makes her way through the woods. Phoenix makes her way across the worn path and discovers many active opponents. She continues forward over barriers that would not even be considered a hindrance for the young. The long hill that she takes tires her, the thornbrush attempts to catch her clothes, the log that Phoenix goes across endangers her balance as she walks across it, and the barbed-wire fence threatens to puncture her skin. All of these impediments that Phoenix endures apparently do not affect her because she is determined that nothing will stop her on her journey. She keeps proceeding onward letting nothing deter her determination. ?The hunter(tm)s attempt to instill fear in Phoenix, a fear she disposed of years ago as she came to terms with her plight in society, fail (Sykes 151). She ?realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle ...
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