A Worn Path

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The Journey of Life
As I began to read this short story about a painful and tedious trek an aged grandmother endures she has made for the last three or four years to the city with one intention in mind, to get a medicine for her chronically ill grandson. On a cold December day she repeats the same journey again. As we read, it appears to be about a long journey the woman has made throughout the entire story, but by carefully examining the theme, it tells us that there is a greater message than just a long trek. In the story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, an old woman whose human spirit is full of dedication, dignity and high morale overcomes tremendous obstacles of life in the name of love.
Phoenix Jackson is the protagonist of the story who is an African- American woman, old and probably disabled. As one person says in the story “You must be hundreds years”(Welty, p365) addressing Phoenix. All of these characteristics are the evidence that the journey is not going to be easy, but her faith in God and strong relation with nature accommodate her on the way. She understands nature by designating it as a “guardian” when her dress gets caught in the bush. “Thorns doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass”(Welty, p364), says Phoenix while taking her dress carefully out of the bush. When she has difficult times such as fatigue and the fall in the bush, she addresses to God by reaching her hand to Him, but nothing reached down to her. It is not her time to leave the Earth yet, so God sends her a hunter, instead, for help. With her belief in God, her goal to finish her journey and her love for her grandson, she conquers all obstacles on the way.
The most difficult obstacle on her way is a young white man who actually helps her stand up when she falls, but he still poses as a great danger to her because of his prejudiced beliefs against black people. Eudora Welty creates two protagonists of opposite race for the purpose of showing racial discrimination in society. By meeting Phoenix and the hunter can get into societal conflict if Phoenix becomes aggressive against his attitude. Yet, she avoids any verbal and physical confrontations and still manages to get even in the game.

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