A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

A Worn Path is a short story by Eudora Welty, in which an old woman named Phoenix Jackson walks a very long way to get medicine for her grandson. The title itself is a foreshadow to the rough journey that she will be undertaking in the story. The story mostly sheds light on the story of Phoenix Jackson, who is the protagonist of the story, however there is no clear antagonist present. During the journey along the worn path, there is little to no character development, and due to that fact, the grandma could be described as a flat and static character due to how uncomplicated her character is. However, what makes the character so unique is the motivation, to get medicine for her grandson, that drives her to go through such lengths in cold weather using an umbrella as a cane.
The setting of the story is near the Old Natchez Trace, Mississippi, however it changes from the forest and streams in the exposition, to a corn field in the rising action, road in the

climax, and the town in falling action and denouement. Majority of her journey takes place in a very cold and dark atmosphere, but the grandma’s humor makes the mood more joyful in contrast to the story line and hardships she’s going through. The story is narrated in a third-person and a limited omniscient point of view, because the narrator’s knowledge is limited to only the grandma’s character.
The author uses a descriptive and somewhat mythical writing style to showcase the setting to the audience.

As Eudora Welty describes, “her eyes blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color ran underneath, and the two knob oh her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark.” Image such as blue eyes and golden color give audience an idea of what to picture as they read the story. The author keeps a calm yet serious tone in the story and the language used by the author is figurative. She uses, imagery, symbols and personification. Welty personifies the grandma’s forehead to a tree when she states, “her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead.” In that quotation, Welty compares the grandma’s forehead to a tree because the wrinkles on her forehead symbolizes a tree full of

branches.
Symbols give hidden meanings and powers to objects and words. Some symbols from the story are, the worn path, windmill and the animals mentioned in the beginning of the story. Even the worn path and windmill are connected. The worn path represents the journey that grandma takes when the time comes to get medicine for her grandson. The windmill could also symbolize the endless cycles of these trips that grandma takes in the dangerous forest. The animals from the beginning, which were foxes, beetles, coons, wild hogs and other wild animals symbolize the danger that the forest and her path to the town and back contains.
The story has many themes, but the worth noticing ones are love, nature and humanity. The grandma loves her grandson and because of him, she’s motivated to go through so many obstacles to see him in better health. It’s christmas time during her visit to the doctor and the attendant gives her five cents, which shows humanity that some people portray on special occasions.