Decoding The Symbolism Used in A Worn Path by Eudora Welty

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Today we will be talking about the different literary references used throughout Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”. I will explain and decode different techniques used by the author throughout her story. The story is of an old southern African American woman, named Phoenix Jackson, making her way into to town to pick up her grandsons medication from the doctor’s office. But this is no normal old woman. She cannot see and is picking her way with a cane to make her way across a barrage of obstacles. Throughout her journey she comes upon different characters and situations, from these events we will draw our interpretations of the symbolism embedded within the tale.

The first thing I thought about after finishing the story was how routine the old woman’s trip to town was. The walk is described as a long dreaded walk through countless fields and an endless line of forest trees. In describing her routine I will point the different quotes and given situations that made me see a link to our societies circle of life. Her innocence can be seen as the representation of a child. As she walks she bends over and sips from a nearby stream she sensed, “sweet-gum makes the water taste sweet”. (A Worn Path, 1276) Here her curiosity also shows a strong relation between the child-old woman analogies.

I also thought of the use of an old African American woman, could be widely interpreted as the representation of minorities throughout society today, and then. Her encounter with the young white hunter with a leashed dog could be the representation of the majority amongst society. Another credible lead to the representation of minorities is the old woman noticing nothing but the nickel fall out of the white man’s pocket. You can clearly see th...

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...le, no matter what is in her way.

In conclusion, the symbolism throughout the story was supportive with my interpretations and analogies throughout Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”. Although there are many different opinions and thoughts about the story. I felt my analysis held a strong correlation between the literally references I showed throughout my essay.

Works Cited

123help me Editors. “Symbolism in ‘A Worn Path’.”

123help me. N.P., n.d. web. 17 mar 2014.

Beller, Michelle. “ ‘A Worn Path’ by Eudora Welty:

Symbols and themes. “ Yahoo! Voices. Yahoo, Inc.,

29 Nov 2008. Web. 17 Mar 2014.

Noelle M. “symbolism in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’.

“ Studymode N.P., Oct 2012. Web. Mar 2014.

Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” Heritage of American

Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol 2. Austin: Harcart

Brace Jovanvich, 1991. 1274. Print.

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