“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, is the tale of an elderly black woman who shows an enormous amount of determination when it comes to helping her unceasingly ill grandson. Phoenix Jackson is the main character in Welty’s “A Worn Path.” Throughout the story, Miss Phoenix Jackson travels the same path every day overcoming whatever obstacles she encounters as she strives along the path in the contribution of her grandson’s health, for he is whom Phoenix habitually travels this “worn path.”
Furthermore, the story must be noted for its simplicity, and vast metaphoric symbolism. Welty uses the path and its obstacles as a form of inspirational aura, one could even say the path is a mirrored image of the difficulties one endures throughout life’s frightening journey. The obstacles are intended to portray the barriers, the risks, and the setbacks one may encounter from day to day life. Moving onward, one could easily compare “A Worn Path” to the life of the average person, and in-turn, the obstacles that individual must overcome in order to provide for his or her loved ones. For example, every individual follows the same routine daily in the conquest of life’s necessities and in the pursuit of happiness, just as Phoenix follows her ritual path day after day. Still, despite the prior verity that everyone travels down a habitual path nearly every day, this however, does not constitute the notion that the individual will encounter the exact same circumstances and obstacles daily. While some obstacles are there to stay, others may come and go allowing the individual to learn from his or her past experiences. What’s more is that one never knows what to expect from day to day life. Despite the element of surprise, on the other hand ...
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...s, Phoenix isn’t a charity case at all, for she is far from this epitome. Phoenix accomplishes more in one day than most individuals could ever even dream of.
“A Worn Path,” is an inspirational tale of the journey of an elderly woman who goes by the name of Phoenix Jackson. Miss Phoenix Jackson inspires all of us that we can endure and overcome life’s difficulties. In the story, Phoenix shows that with an immense amount of hope, sheer determination, and inexhaustible exertion, that anyone despite their physical and mental attributes can overcome and endure whatever obstacles are positioned in their way.
Work Cited
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” 1941. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and
Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts, Ed. Henry E. Jacobs. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2006. 110-15.
“A Worn Path” is a short story written by Eudora Welty. It is a story of an elderly black woman’s journey into town for her grandson’s medicine. Using lots of imagery throughout the story, the narrator tells us that the woman, Phoenix Jackson takes this dangerous journey out of love for her grandson who is in need of medicine. Throughout her journey, she encounters many people who are of great importance to the story.
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.
Writing with Readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 52-57. Print.
Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path” emphasizes the unselfish love that inspires courage, sacrifice, and love through her use of symbolism.
In Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" the conflict was not apparent at the very beginning. What was a poor, elderly sick woman doing gallivanting in the forest during the dead of winter? The reason became clear towards the conclusion of the story as the action revealed that the conflict was obtaining the necessary medicine for her grandson. When this conflict became obvious, another question came to mind. What kind of society did this woman live in that she had to go all the way from her home in the countryside to the city by herself to get the medicine? The conflict being illustrated is that of an individual versus society and the four problems that Phoenix faces as a result of this was her old age, her health, her grandson's health and her state of poverty.
In the story A Worn Path, Eudora Welty shows an old woman living in a time period where racial prejudice is rampant and out of control. Phoenix Jackson is a grandmother whose only motivation for living is to nurture her grandson back to health. The strength of love may make people do or say unusual and implausible things. The central idea of this story is that love can empower someone to over come many life-threatening obstacles. The idea is shown when an old woman conquers all odds against her to show her everlasting love for her grandson. Throughout the story Phoenix Jackson has to overcome many types of obstacles that hinder her in her devotion to help her grandson.
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.
“A Worn Path” tells of an elderly and frail black woman and of the hardships that she must overcome. Upon reading the story, you realize that there is more to the story than meets the eye. She faces many roadblocks along her way. Phoenix faces many dangerous obstacles along her way, for a person of her age. She faces racism from some of characters she meets along the way. Phoenix faces inferior treatment, as though she is nothing more than some insect to squash. This story is about not only her ‘journey’ to Natchez, but also about her journey through society and the struggle to overcome the dangers, being treated inferior, and the racism.
Noelle M. “Symbolism in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’” Study mode N.P., Oct 2012. Web. 17 Mar 2014.
The short story genre ‘A Worn Path,’ by Eudora, Welty is in third person omniscient point of view, and the theme is of undying love and devotion. The story theme is similar to the poem “The Road Not Taken”, yet is dramatically different as the setting along with characterization gives a detail and clear images in the plot. 3 Intriguingly as stated by the South Central Review (1997)… ‘The Worn Path presents the detail of Phoenix’s journey along the Natchez Trace. The first two Paragraphs deliver meticulous description’:
“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 "A Worn Path", a short story by Eudora Welty, the main character, an old colored woman named Phoenix, slowly but surely makes her way down a "worn path" through the woods. Throughout her journey, she runs into many obstacles such as a thorny bush and a hunter. She overcomes these obstacles and continues with her travels. She finally reaches her destination, the doctor’s office, where she gets medicine for her sick grandson back home. Many critics have speculated that this short story represents the love a grandmother shows for her grandson. Others say this story represents life and death, where Phoenix represents an immortal figure. Dennis J. Sykes disagrees with the other critics by saying, "A parallel exists between the journey described and the plight of the Southern blacks after the Civil War" (Sykes). Ultimately, Eudora Welty demonstrates how blacks have been persecuted in a white world.
'A Worn Path' is the tale of the unstoppable love and care of a grandmother for her grandchild. Phoenix Jackson is Eudora Welty's main character and protagonist in A Worn Path.? Phoenix is an old, frail woman who attempts to proceed on a long and treacherous journey through the woods to Natchez. Phoenix strives forward despite frequent obstacles in her way that include her own failing health and her grandchild's slim chance of survival. As she takes this prolonged trek across the woods, many of her characteristics are revealed. Her tenacity, senility, and consideration that she displays throughout her long worn path emphasize her character.
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
Mansfield proved no matter how egotistic and pompous a person is, no one wants to hear someone talking in regards to them negatively. In the reader of “Miss Brill” opinion, the moral of the story is treat others the way they would like to be treated. On the contrary in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”, though the protagonist’s journey was considered dangerous and ludicrous, Phoenix Jackson still made her journey. She was able to get her grandson’s medicine and also buy him a toy, due to the ignorance of others. The apologue of this story is love conquers all, never underestimate anyone, and always believe in