During Eudora Welty's lifespan, through the story of "The Worn Path" one will see how this Modernism movement influenced Eudora Welty in creating this story since that was the era she grew up in. According to James Walter he quotes from Eudora Welty saying "One day I saw a solitary old woman like Phoenix. She was walking; I saw her, at middle distance, in a winter country landscape, and watched her slowly make her way across my line of vision. The site of her made me write the story...." This quote shows that after observing that woman, Eudora Welty was inspired to write the "The Worn Path". Eudora Welty grew up in Mississippi and during her time she saw many racial tensions in the south from segregation. The story's setting is based on the Natchez Trace trail which is located in Tennessee and is also part of the Trail of tears. Though there are other aspects, one can …show more content…
see these influences are some major influences that gave her the creativity to write this story. Modernist, Welty wants the reader to see her perception on some of these relational issues. From analyzing the main character Phoenix, one can see the three most important aspects of the story are the influences on her perception, the determination to overcome obstacles, and the love for her grandson. The influences on her perception is a major factor in life and reality, as it is the primary way we view the world and determines how we respond to various situations. This story shows how Phoenix is smart but she does not think in such a linear way. Meaning that she is not always rational. There are plenty scenes in where she does not use logic and where her imagination or even her age may take over her perception in the way she sees the world. "My senses are gone. I too old. I the oldest people I ever know. Dance, old scarecrow," she said, "while I dancing with you." This is a line from the story which shows that Phoenix actually mistook a scarecrow for a ghost showing that her perception of things is not real but it could be fear magnified. How Phoenix perceives things is because of her age, and also her sight which could be dimming away. She probably could not see any further and might have thought the scarecrow was moving may be in the wind.Based on the character's perception and mindset the Welty really wants to show how people think in reality. In another scene, she sees black tall trees that look like black men with one arm she says to them "Who you watching". One can see from the scene that due to her old age her imagination affects her perception at times affects in where her responses to situations may not always seem quite logical.Phoenixes perception of life could be fear magnified because of the thought of losing her grandson; therefore the way she is perceiving things is not the way she should. In addition to analyzing perception as one of the key aspects of Phoenix's character, we find her Determination to get the medicine for her grandson is another one of Phoenixes main characteristics. At the beginning of the scene, "Old Phoenix said, "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!. . . Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites.... Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let any of those come running my direction. I got a long way." In this scene, the reader sees no matter how long the path or what she faces that she will not stop until she meets her mark. In one scene Phoenix is saved from a dog attacking her by the hunter and the hunter says "Well, I scared him off that time," he said, and then he laughed and lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix.” In this scene, Phoenix is now encountering another obstacle which is the hunter. the hunter tries to persuade or commands her to leave the trail saying "Now you go on home Granny!" Even though some may say this was either to protect Phoenix from getting hurt since she is an elderly woman or either it was for the amusement of the hunter, regardless of this reason this scene shows that this was an obstacle that was put in her way to stop Phoenix from reaching her goal. Phoenix's enders from her age, Even though she takes a nickel from him the story says that a hunter is a white man, in which this shows that the hunter's attitude towards her could have been to display racism. Since "The Worn Path" was written in 1941 and it seems to take place around that time. From this scene, one sees that Phoenix displays courage and As a modernist, the author wants to show no matter what race or age through determination a person can endure any obstacles. In addition to determination, even though Phoenix is not as young as she used to be she does not let her old age stop her from getting the medicine and because of this story shows that Phoenix overcomes her age. Here in the last paragraph, Phoenix says "My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip." This scene shows that she forgets important things which means her mind could be deteriorating due to her old age but she still overcomes her oldness by not giving up. As we can see the reader sees that through determination phoenix overcomes many diverse challenges from inside and outside herself in "The Worn Path". Lastly, Welty's Worn Path another characteristic for the reason she so determines is her love for her grandson. According to this document by James Walter "The full sweep of the pendulum, with its upward motion incorporated periodically into a pattern of temporally dominant gravity—just as Phoenix's journey is incorporated into a landscape of winter and death—symbolically captures the full range of the "habit of love" at the heart of this story's meaning." Phoenix is able to achieve her goal by the love and faith that she has. Her name itself represents a symbol of light and time. From Greek mythology, the Phoenix is a bright firey bird that lives a very long time from life rebirth and regeneration.From this, we can see a similarity to the main character has much tenacity from enduring many different hardships throughout the story and she is able to endure such challenges through the power of love and faith. As well In the society during those times and even now most single parents must go by themselves to take care or provide for their children to sustain their life. From this Even Though the story doesn't mention about the child's mother and father, in the worn path Phoenix is the only parent who seems to be providing for the child. According to James Waters he cites According to Sara Trefman [“Welty's 'A Worn Path',” Explicator, Vol.
24 February 1966], Phoenix is "clearly a symbol of Christ" and her journey reverberates with symbols from the Christian tradition. Neil D. Isaacs argues [in "Life for Phoenix," Sewanee Review, Vol. 71, 1963] that throughout the story are “allusions to and suggestions of the Christ-myth at large and the meaning of Christmas in particular”; moreover, that “the whole story is suggestive of a religious pilgrimage” by which Phoenix, “with an abiding intuitive faith, arrives at the shrine of her pilgrimage.” James Welty compares the main character Phoenix to Christ meaning they both represent life and love. These idea meaning that Christ in Christianity gives up his life to save the world; just like Phoenix goes and risks hers to prolong her grandson's life for the power of love.Being a modernist Welty may also have used ideas from where she grew up as a Christian as tools symbolize the character's theme of love. Using of Christianity allusion and some analogies of Christmas Eudora Welty uses Phoenixes love to as a symbol of her
faith. In addition to the love she has for her son grandson there is scene at the end of the story where Phoenix explains saying "We is the only two left in the world. He suffer and it don't seem to put him back at all. He got a sweet look. He going to last. He wear a little patch quilt and peep out holding his mouth open like a little bird. I remembers so plain now. I not going to forget him again, no, the whole enduring time. I could tell him from all the others in creation." Her love in this story portrays that she has an unselfish ambition in where she has faith that though her son is suffering from a non-curable disease that her son will live through and she will make sure of it. This scene also shows that she will not give up or do whatever it takes to prolong the life of her grandson. Just like the mythological Phoenix that rises from its ashes so does this Phoenix from every situation because of love she believes that the medicine she is going to receive will prolong the life of her grandson. It's a token of her love to travel far to get the medicine and by putting herself in harm's way or in dangers especially in the time frame Phoenix was in. From this modernist Welty wants to show that a love for another person can cause a person to take on fearful dangerous endeavors like Phoenix has endured. To sum it up the author Eudora Welty had many different influences on her to create The Worn Path which is a piece of art. The most important aspects of the story are the inner and outer influences on Phoenix’s perception, the determination to overcome different challenges, and the love for Phoenix's grandson. Welty as Modernist shows us that anything is possible through love faith and determination, what a great story.
"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.
Welty, Eudora. "A Worn Path." The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. 142-49.
“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.
Since Welty's tale is such a simple one, readers are forced to find the more obvious symbolism and then must delve deeper into the text to find the more meaningful symbols. In the second paragraph, Phoenix's skin is described as having "a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead." An obvious example of Christ symbolism is the tree being a symbol of life and knowledge gained through the acceptance of Christ. Further analysis of the tree symbol could also conclude that like Christ, trees provide shelter and protection while remaining patient and impassive and still harbor an appearance of imperialistic grace. Most would probably be content to continue comparison between Christ and Phoenix, but one small, almost unnoticed action separates the two. "Her fingers slid down and along the ground under the money with the grace and care they would have had in lifting an egg from under a sitting hen. Then she slowly straightened up, she stood erect, and the nickel was in her apron pocket...Her lip...
The first way Phoenix is an archetypal hero is because she is full of mysterious and obscure origin. Some ways she is full of mysterious and obscure origin is that it is not clear where she comes from or who her parents are. A second way is that she was a slave. And Finally she has been through hard times and still works through it. In the story when Phoenix is on her
In the short story "A Worn Path," the message that Eudora Welty sends to the readers is one of love, endurance, persistence, and perseverance. Old Phoenix Jackson walks a long way to town, through obstacles of every sort, but no obstacle is bad enough to stop her from her main goal. She may be old and almost blind, but she knows what she has to do and won't give up on it. Her grandson has swallowed lye, and she has a holy duty of making her way to town in order to get medicine for him. The wilderness of the path does not scare her off. She stumbles over and over, but she talks herself through every obstacle. Undoubtedly, the theme of perseverance is what Eudora Welty wants to point out to her readers. Just like the name Phoenix suggests
Gianina, my twin sister, has an irrational dislike of bananas and cheese. She will not knowingly eat anything that has bananas or cheese, and in fact, the simple mention of bananas may very well throw her into a fit. Bizarrely, one of her favorite foods is mango cheesecake and she will quite happily eat anything so long as no one mentions it contains bananas or cheese. Gianina’s predilection annoys me not only because my favorite thing to eat is new york style pizza, but also because it reminds me that as a kid I had an even stranger quirk: I refused to eat Asian food. A word of background is in order. My mother is Chinese, originally from Shanghai. I overlap two cultures because I am half-Chinese and half-Caucasian. As a child, I would walk around the fresh markets in Hong Kong every day with my maid to buy the fresh fish and vegetables that were sure to be steamed and sautéed with vast amounts of oyster sauce. Some days, my father and I would stroll the streets seeing what was out there for I was a curious. As a child, I did not understand why my Dad would turn heads on the str...
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.
Word Press editor. “An Analysis of Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’”. Word press. N.P., April 12,2013. Web. 17 Mar 2014.
“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 Eudora Welty 's "A Worn Path" the reader is told of the journey of Phoenix Jackson an elderly African-American woman. Beginning the story, her journey appears irrelevant. Jackson travels through the woods and over hills powering through the many hardships that an elderly woman would face. Towards the conclusion of this story, a reader recognizes the meaning of Phoenix’s journey. Through the entire story she has been journeying to obtain medicine for her grandson that had fallen ill from “swallowing lye"(p. 105). In Welty’s story it is easily recognizable to the reader that the theme of the story is how one will face extreme hardships for the ones that they love, specifically Phoenix struggles with her vision, being senile, and just the burden
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.