Every author creates their story to have a dynamic structure and sequence of events to make their story more appealing to their target audience. For instance, Eudora Welty created “A Worn Path”, which is a short story that followed the path of Phoenix Jackson on her journey to acquire medicine for her ill grandson. The story was set up and organized to cause the reader to constantly think about the specific details of the journey and why the grandmother embarked on the path to the city. In this way, the author has room to create a lot of intricate scenes to further describe the characters to the reader. This short story creates scenes that test the validity of Jackson’s journey and her overall strive to successfully complete her objective. …show more content…
For instance, Welty describes Jackson's hair by saying, "Under the rag her hair came down on her necklace in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper." In addition, by Welty portraying Jackson as an older woman, it allowed me to further understand the obstacles that she had to endure due to her age and physical impediments. Furthermore, due to her poor eye vision and inability to read, it caused for her to think with her heart and mind by going based off of her knowledge of the past trips to the medical clinic. Despite all of these disabilities, her love and determination to receive the medicine for her grandson helped her overcome obstacles such as: a barbed wire fence, thorn bushes, unstable log bridges, and threats from people along the way. Jackson also decided to buy her grandson a windmill with a nickel she stole and a nickel she received as a form of charity to bring her grandson joy through the
"A Worn Path," by Eudora Welty is a heartbreaking story about the heroic trip of an old African American woman, Phoenix. The readers won't find out right away the plot of the story or why Phoenix won't give up her exhausting trip to town-the conflict of this story-especially on a very cold day. The title, "A Worn Path," indicates that Phoenix has obviously walked down this path many times before-also the fact that she can cross a creek with her eyes closed confirms the title's message.
This type of "narrative" writing gives believability to the people, and a sense of realism to the story.
Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' is a story that emphasizes the natural symbolism of the surroundings. As the story begins, we are introduced to our main character, Phoenix Jackson; she is described as a small, old Negro woman. I believe that the name Eudora Welty gives our main character is very symbolic. The legend of the Phoenix is about a fabled sacred bird of ancient Egyptians. The bird is said to come out of Arabia every 500 years to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on the altar and rose again from its ashes, young and beautiful. Phoenix, the women in the story, represents the myth of the bird because she is described as being elderly and near the end of her life. Phoenix can hardly walk and uses a cane made of an old umbrella to aid her. Her skin is described as old and wrinkly, but yet with a golden color running beneath it '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?(55). Her skin tone represents the golden feathers of the Phoenix and her grandson represents the next Phoenix that will be given life when she dies. The trip to the city to get the medicine represents the mythological trip that the Phoenix takes to the sun to die. Most likely this journey along a worn path through the woods, will be one of her last.
“The Corner Store” by Eudora Welty, Welty is very descriptive when discussing the store that was in her hometown. Throughout the essay, she creates a dominant impression by her use of sensory details such as touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Welty attempts to create a description of the store that demonstrates a friendly old fashion atmosphere which in paragraph eight she expresses with the use of the sensory detail sight. The author uses the sensory detail sight when she describes the store in great detail. For example, the barrel that held the cold drinks, the color of the water, the soda flavors, and her favorite soda that only exists locally. Then she continues by describing Mr. Sessions always prepared in front of the barrel to
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 narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
Phoenix’s journey is a little long just by walking alone in the middle of the
In the simplest form, there is a basic structural pattern to narratives, as expressed through Tzvetan Todorov’s explanation of narrative movement between two equilibriums. A narrative begins in a stable position until something causes disequilibrium, however, by the end of the story, the equilibrium is re-established, though it is different than the beginning (O’Shaughnessy 1999: 268). Joseph Cam...
'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.
The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty presents Wanda Fay on the surface as selfish, manipulative, insecure, thoughtless, shallow, spoiled, and flighty as well as thoughtlessly and carelessly cruel. On the contrary, it wasn’t difficult for me to see Fay as a victim of her family and her upbringing, the elite class of Mount Salus, and her own personal aspirations. Throughout the novel, even though I despised Fay and her weaknesses I did feel sorry for her. Her apprehension discovering that her family was downstairs when she finally decided to leave the bedroom to see her husband, the Judge’s, body for the last time showed me that she had probably hoped to escape her family by marrying the Judge, only to discover that she was forced to confront them when the Judge passed away and no longer ‘belonged’ to her. The Optimist’s daughter is a deliberate metaphor for society. Eudora Welty was slightly prescient, as she never focuses on political issues, but instead crass materialism/boundless energy vs. civilized values/privilege and class.
In the short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, An old woman named Phoenix walks a long way town.While walking her skirt got caught on in a bush. She sits by a lake and when she does she imagines a boy giving her cake. She goes into a dead corn field and she sees a figure that she thinks is man but it turns out to be a scarecrow. She lays on the ground talking to herself when a hunter passes her. He drops a nickel and she take it. Once she reaches town she ask a women to tie her shoes. Once, the lady is done she goes into the building. The attendant ask Phoenix is there and she says to get medicine for her grandson.The lady gives Phoenix five cents. Phoenix says she going to use it to buy her son a windmill. Phoenix responses well to rudeness.
...age by Melanie Luken” is influence me in many ways. Author had organized her thoughts logically. Each paragraph has author’s experience and happens in the right time plot; it tights back to thesis of the story. In fact, I am learning to incorporate this type of narrative into my writing as well.
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.
Eudora Welty was born in 1909, in Jackson, Mississippi, grew up in a prosperous home with her two younger brothers. Her parent was an Ohio-born insurance man and a strong-minded West Virginian schoolteacher, who settled in Jackson in 1904 after their marriage. Eudora’s school life began attending a white-only school. As born and brought up under strict supervision and influence, at the age of sixteen she somehow convinced her parents to attend college far enough from home, to Columbus, Mississippi and then to Madison, Wisconsin. After graduation in 1930, she moved to New York to attend Columbia Business School. While living in New York, Harlem Jazz theatre occupied her more than her class did. She returned to Jackson in 1931 following her father’s untimely death, where she worked for a local radio station and also wrote articles for a newspaper. Later she worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration in 1935. As a part of her job she traveled by car or by bus through the depth of Mississippi, and saw poverty of black and white people, which she had never imagined before. This time photography became her passion. She was somehow influenced by black and Southern culture as seen in her novel or short story called “Some Notes on River Country” or “A Worn Path”.