A Worn Path Eudora Welty Analysis

Eudora Welty uses her knowledge of life in the deep south, specifically places such as the Nachez Trace, Clay County, and Shellmound, Mississippi, to write stories where setting influences the actions and outcome of event for each character. She develops these settings by using, alliteration, imagery, and diction that reflects the time period and location of her most popular works such as The Ponder Heart, “A Worn Path”, The Robber Bridegroom, and Delta Wedding.

Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 13, 1909. Because her parents weren't from the deep south (states that were dependent on plantation-type agriculture and slavery during the Civil War era), she was somewhat detached from the culture and better able to observe it

from an outsiders prospective. From a very young age, Welty’s mother encouraged her to read every chance she had. This constant encouragement is what sparked her love for reading and the literary arts. Her siblings, and parents were the epitome of a close-knit family which gave her a good sense of family values. After Welty graduated from high school, she went to Mississippi State College for Women and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin to finish her english literature studies. Later, at her father’s request, Welty went to study advertising at Columbia University. However, because her graduation took place during the Great Depression, she had a hard time finding a job in New York. While in New York, the Harlem Renaissance had reached its apogee, which served as a source of inspiration for Welty.
In 1931 Welty went back to Jackson, Mississippi after her father lost his life to Leukemia. She then took a job writing about Jackson’s society for the Memphis based newspaper Commercial Appeal. Then, in 1935 she began working at the Works Progress Administration as a publicity agent where she collected stories, conducted interviews, and took photographs of daily life in Mississippi. Because of this job, she was able to better see what life was truly like for individuals in Mississippi and was able to draw inspiration from these photographs and interviews to write more historically accurate stories. Three years after she left this job she became a full-time writer. She first became an acclaimed southern writer when she published, A Curtain of Green, a book of short stories.
Five years later, in 1946, Welty published her first full novel called Delta Wedding because it was set in the Delta of Mississippi. Welty then began to write a novel made up of seven stories. During the writing process she realized that all of these stories were connected. Each of her characters in one story seemed to be the younger or older versions of themselves in another. Once she came to this realization she decided that this piece would be neither a novel nor a collection of short stories. This work, The Golden Apples, would be one of her most popular pieces. After that piece was finished, she decided to travel to Europe. From this trip Welty wrote two novels based upon experiences she had there, although they were still set in the American South. She continued to write many novels over the next fourteen years but her production stopped after a tragic life occurrence. After she recovered from her personal difficulties she continued to write and even published some of her most well known novels.
Welty makes sure to use her personal knowledge and information of the deep south to write works that are historically accurate. Sometimes these historical events are paralleled to things that happened in her life as well as things happening in the book. A common theme in Welty’s books is the importance and influence of family. Because Welty grew up with such a close- knit family that had a strong sense of togetherness it was a common theme in almost all of her books. In the short story “A Worn Path”, an elderly lady named Phoenix Jackson sets out on a long journey to retrieve medicine for her sick grandson. Throughout this journey she encounters many obstacles that slow her journey significantly but never bring it to a halt. One obstacle was when a bush’s thorns caught her dress, “Her fingers were busy and intent, but her skirts were full and long, so that before she could pull them [thorns] free in one place they were caught in another” (Welty 1). She is an old and fragile woman, therefore many of the simplest tasks such as this one were difficult for her. Despite this obstacle and the many more to come, she never quit her voyage because the love she has for her grandson exceeds any physical pain or trouble that she will encounter.
Another common theme that parallels her life is the sense of self and a person’s place in community. Welty’s parents were not from the deep south so she took on some of their culture, therefore Welty was never able to be fully immersed in the culture of Mississippi and was more of an observer of it. She had to find a way to fit in to the community and absorb the culture while still respecting it and finding her own place. One of the ways she was able to do that was by her interest in photography. She would take pictures that would represent what daily life was life in Mississippi. This helped her to get a more in depth picture of the things that she could not personally experience. “"While white people in a Deep South state like Mississippi were surrounded by blacks at the time...they were socially invisible,” Says Welty in an interview. This is demonstrated in the short story “Where is the Voice Coming From?” by the way the main character dismisses any blacks that he encounters. “Never seen anything of his black face but his picture, never seen his face alive, any time at all, or anywheres, and didn't want to, need to, never hope to see that face and never will.” (Welty 214). This main character had no desire to ever look at this man purely because he was black and his mindset was similar to almost all others during that time. It was easy to be invisible at that time unless you were being harassed for the color of your skin.
Although slavery was abolished in 1865 with the passing of the thirteenth amendment, the aftermath of all of the evil done in years past left African Americans with few rights, which led to the inability of blacks to live a life equal to whites. Because Welty grew up in the deep south she was able to experience the hardships that African Americans faced first hand, and from those experiences she was able to write stories that were accurate in the lives of those seen as unequal. For example, in the short story “Where is the Voice Coming From?” Welty writes from the perspective of a poor white man that symbolizes the killer of Medgar Evers, a local civil rights leader. She wrote this story to display the extreme racism that was taking place at this time. The very beginning of the story shows the blatant racism, “I says to my wife, “You can reach and turn it off. You don't have to set and look at a black ni**er face no longer than you want to…” (Welty 213). This is an accurate representation of how most whites felt post-civil war in the deep south. They had such a strong dislike towards African Americans that it would cause them to feel that they were too good to even look or associate with a black. For some the hatred was enough to even commit murder. Welty was able to write this short story from the point of the murderer because these situations had been experienced by her throughout her life. Some people criticized Welty’s work because the way that she seemed indifferent toward racism in her stories, but the reality is that she wrote about racism the same way that people at that time treated it. It was nonchalant and blatant but it wasn’t a big deal to white people because it had become normalized. Many of the controversial topics that she wrote about in her pieces showed her point of view towards them but also were representative of how these topics were treated in this era.
Eudora Welty had a strong belief that the setting of a novel, novella, or short story could have a large effect on almost all aspects of the piece. For example, in the short story A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, the main character Phoenix Jackson encounters many obstacles that are a part of the setting. One of these obstacles was that she couldn't tie her shoe on her own and had to ask a stranger to help her tie it “Please, missy, will you lace up my shoe?” (Welty 4). These physical objects bring trouble to Phoenix that affect her behavior and the way she handles obstacle that is thrown at her. Her inability to read also sets some obstacles in her path that slow her journey to her final destination. This is representative of the setting which includes the time period. At this time the Civil War was just ending and African Americans were still under strict rule. They were not even allowed to do attend school. This is only one of the many ways that the setting of the story affects the characters. If the setting was any different it would change the nature of the character and the story completely because, the setting is vital to the life and personality of the character.
Welty uses many literary devices and techniques to intricately develop the setting such as alliteration, imagery, and diction that displays the southern dialect.

In A Worn Path, Eudora Welty implements alliteration and imagery to create a specific setting that she can build the characters and their actions off of. An example of alliteration in this novel is “She smelled wood-smoke, and smelled the river, and she saw a steeple and the cabins on their steep steps.” (Welty 4). The repetition of the s sound to mimic the wind and smoke. This is just a way to build the setting rather than just simply describing or stating the setting. Imagery is seen further into the short story “On she went. The woods were deep and still. The sun made the pine needles almost too bright to look at, up where the wind rocked. The cones dropped a light as feathers.” (Welty 3). Welty utilizes imagery to give her audience a clear view of the picture she is attempting to portray. This description helps the reader to see how difficult of a journey this was for Phoenix and possibly give the reader and opportunity to relate to Phoenix. There are more examples of imagery in her other works as well such as in The Robber Bridegroom. “As his foot touched the shore, the sun sank into the river the color of blood, and at once a wind sprang up and covered the sky with black, yellow, and green clouds the size of whales, which moved across the face of the moon.” (Welty 2). Another important literary device used is diction that indicates southern dialect especially on the part of the African Americans. This dialect is indicative of the time period because African Americans spoke much differently than whites due to the fact that they were uneducated and therefore were not on the same level of intellect as there counterparts were. “‘Miss Ellen. Partheny send for you. Say please come…Say please Miss Ellen come. Not me stay with her, Mr. Troy git me” (Welty 85). In this excerpt from Delta Wedding, African

Americans did not speak in complete sentences or use proper tense, not because they chose not to, but because they did not know any better. They were denied the wrote to learn which naturally created a division between them and the whites. This division made the whites “seem” superior. This dialect is affected greatly by the setting because had this story been set twenty years later the dialect would be slightly if not greatly different.
Eudora Welty was an extremely talented writer with an ability to write based off of her life experiences and her extensive time living in the deep south. She uses all of her knowledge and experience of specific places in the deep south, specifically Mississippi, to create a setting in each of her works that affect every aspect of the character from their outcome to their dialect. She develops these settings using alliteration, imagery, and diction. Welty was extremely talented when it came to being able to observe the culture of her home region, which is what draws many people to her novels. Although she passed away in 2001 she left a legacy that will carry on.