Parenting In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

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“A real parent is someone who puts that child above their own selfish needs and wants” -Anonymous(Pinterest 2016)
Customarily seen as someone who is willing to do anything and everything for their children, a true, loving parent will always protect their child and ensure that they are always healthy. It’s an assumption that genuine parents would willingly put themselves in any situation, dangerous or not, without remorse if it were to benefit their children. Grandparents on the other hand are greatly caring, but simply viewed as babysitters; taking care of grandchildren when both parents are busy. Most people would be under the stereotype that grandparents aren’t able to provide sufficient care for their children due to their elderly age. However, Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist in “A Worn Path”, a short story written by Eudora Welty, defies her age and consequently proves different.

Welty details Phoenix as “an old Negro women” with eyes “blue with age”. Her skin has “a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles…” further exemplifying her age. As a result of her small and fragile body, she carries “a thin small cane made from an umbrella”. “With her head tied red rag” and wearing an “apron of bleached sugar sacks”, Phoenix denies her age and poverty to halt her tedious …show more content…

Phoenix however is fine with this as she knows what she will obtain from this journey, medicine, will help her grandson feel better. To do this she willingly faces nature, an assertive hunter, and continuous discouragement. Many people would have succumbed to such a journey, but Phoenix’s love for he grandson restricts her from doing so. Phoenix exemplifies determination, positiveness, and selflessness in her quest for her grandson’s medicine. She doesn’t let anything get in her way and stop her from helping her (grand)child; she is an epitome of a

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