A Worn Path “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. The protagonist of this short story is Phoenix Jackson. She is portrayed as a lively person because of the vivid color descriptions given by the author. Her complexion is described to have yellow, golden and copper colors. This colors state she is a black woman. The author uses imagery to shows us that Phoenix is …show more content…
We know this because the hunter states, “I know you old colored people! Wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus!”(Welty, 1941, p.22). On this chilly morning, an elderly black woman named Phoenix Jackson was making her way into town to get medicine for her grandson who swallowed lye. She was walking slowly but surely, tapping along with a cane in her hand. While she was on the Natchez Trace in the forest, she would talk to the animals and the thorny bushes telling them to stay out her way. The story begins to get more interesting after she crosses the stream. When she sits down to rest under the tree, she tries to take the slice of cake from a boy, but when she opens her eyes she finds her hand stretched out, taking nothing. The terrain gets so difficult, that Phoenix mistakes the crow for a ghost. She blames these mistakes on her eyesight and her old age. The climax of the story is when she encounters the hunter and his dogs. The hunter draws and points his gun at the old woman. While pointing his gun at her he asked if she was afraid to which she answered no. After this encounter, Phoenix reaches the town where everything is decorated for Christmas. Her journey ends with her getting the medicine for her grandson and nickel to buy a present for her
"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.
In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson picks a cold December day to make yet another perilous journey to a near by city to get medicine for her ailing grandson. On the way this old woman faces many obstacles, both natural and man-made. Phoenix draws upon her perseverance and willingness to sacrifice herself to help her throughout her journey, but it is the undying love for her grandson that truly guides and drives her to her final goal. She is described as being a very old woman. “Her eyes were blue with age. 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 run underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark (Welty 386). These all show an indication of her old age. Also, her loss of memory indicates her old age. It was only until Phoenix reached the doctor’s office she remembered why she went on her journey. “My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my trip”(Welty 394). Another character in the story was a white man who was a hunter. When Phoenix falls in the ditch, he helps her out of the ditch. Even though the hunter helps Phoenix, he still poses as a threat to her, because it seems he did not want her to finish her journey. This is made apparent when he states, “Why, that’s too far! That’s as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for my trouble”(Welty 391). In addition, like her name, Phoenix seems ageless. When she stops to drink water from the spring she says, “Nobody know who made this well, for it was here when I was born”(Welty 391). When she encounters the hunter and he asks her how old she is she says, “There is no telling, mister, “said, “no telling” (Welty 392). Again her age is emphasized when she goes to the doctor’s office and the nurse ask her why she never went to school. “I never did go to school, I was too old a...
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.
...f questions and she answers all of them respectfully and honestly. Phoenix cleverly distracts the man, with the two dogs that are fighting and he goes off to scare the big black one away by shooting at it. It is when he comes back and points his gun at her, that Phoenix shows no fear if it. When she is asked if she is afraid of it, her reply is, “No sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done” (Welty 58). Her unusual courage shows just how far racism stretches. Normally a human being would show fear when staring a gun down, but with years of white people making slaves out of them; black people had learn to face persecution head on. Therefore, Phoenix faced her trial head on, and the white hunter left with a little more respect for her than before. Which in the society she lived in respect was a gift and to be cherished.
Welty uses her main character, Phoenix, to portray colored people who represent the fight for freedom. When Phoenix is described in the beginning, she is wearing a “red rag” and a “dark striped” dress (Welty 212). The red rag represents...
A Worn Path, is a short story about a little old lady who took this big adventure just to get some medicine for her sick grandson. The grandson was sick because he ended up swallowing lye two years ago. The short story really shows the extent a family member would go just to see you happy. The grandmother had started to have a short memory loss, even though she blamed it on her lack of education, it may have been because of her old age. Eudora Welty uses fluctuating tone, symbols, and settings in the short story.
Old lady Phoenix is the main character of the story. She is walking on a worn path on a venture to retrieve some medicine for her sick grandchild. She is described as a frail and old African American
Phoenix Jackson is an elderly African American who lives in the South after the Civil War. Phoenix has endured many things in her life, from small trials to some as big as slavery. From these trials, Phoenix Jackson has developed traits such as selflessness, determination, and a lively spirit. As the protagonist of Welty’s story, Phoenix represents the fire and the character that all should possess while traveling through life. All though Phoenix is very old and can hardly bend to tie her shoe, the strengths of her character help Phoenix overcome her weaknesses and continue on her quest.
In the first few paragraphs, Welty provides a concise description of Phoenix’s physical composition. Phoenix is described as an old negro woman with a small-built and a red rag tied around her head, beneath the red rag lies her
Phoenix Jackson is an elderly black woman who struggles to walk, has poor vision, and she is very fatigue. Phoenix Jackson is the symbol of perserverance, stamina, redemption, faces racial prejudice, and life in the face of hardship and death. She is a brave woman who would endure many obstacles to get ,medicine for her grandson. She faces many dangers in the Natchez trail sacrificing everything with determination to make sure her grandson gets better. She has selfless concern for her grandson. The author conveys Phoenix Jackson as a woman of true spirit and self-sacrifice.
Eudora Welty’s Phoenix Jackson, the old African American woman in “A Worn Path,” is primarily an altruistic human being. Welty gives us a picture of Phoenix when she states that, “She wore a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes” (par. 2). Despite Phoenix’s ragged appearance, she is on an important journey to alleviate the suffering of her dear grandson, which brings upon an enlightened and enduring characteristic about her. Welty reveals Phoenix’s qualities in three areas of the story: Phoenix’s name, the journey, and the visit to
Several literary items are repeated throughout this short story. The repeated themes are love, perseverance, racial prejudice, and redemption. Phoenix makes a long painful journey in order to obtain medicine for her grandson simply due to the fact that her love for him is so strong. The theme of perseverance is displayed when Phoenix travels to Natchez despite being treated as less than those she encounters, not only does she continue traveling but not a single complaint leaves her lips. Phoenix continues to persevere during this long journey, because she loves her grandson and knows that his suffering will end for a short while after the trek is complete. Not only does Old Phoenix endure physical pain she also experiences racial prejudice. The author does not tell us that all of the people Phoenix
The author describes Phoenix Jackson as a frail elder woman and puts great detail in how she walks unbalanced and gives a vivid description of her facial features. The author wanted to show how a lady this old and physically challenged makes a far journey that makes even an experienced hunter exclaim “That’s too far! That’s as far as I walk when I come out myself, you go on home granny!” Our main character seems to have a problem seeing things as the author states that “her eyes were blue with age”. She has a vision of this little boy giving her a piece of marble cake in the woods so you can assume that her mind isn’t all there. Through all the obstacles she has to face physically and mentally she still goes on to town, she is
Sometimes, journey becomes the epitome of certain abstract ideas such as determination, boldness, and heroism. The story, “The Worn Path” by Eudora Welty is such a story of the journey of an African-American elderly woman, who is resolute in obtaining the medicine for her grandson, suffering from the swallowed lye in his throat (Kathleen 14). Eudora Welty has designed a story with an aim to show grandma’s persistence in perilous settings such as fear of animals, settings of woods, rivers, hills, rocky path and her journey towards the city on the cold winter day, far from her village and as a final point, her success to get a medicine from
No matter where you are, you will be judged by your looks. People will make assumptions about others based on what they observe of that person, just from their appearance. This natural human behaviour is a fundamental truth, and is common all over the world, but it is most prominently displayed in the southern states of America. What people see is what they will assume. But often, there can be a huge difference in a person’s appearance and character. This is exceptionally true in the case of Phoenix Jackson, in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’. Looking at Phoenix, one would not be impressed. She is a poor frail old woman, and would be expected to be weak in character and in mind. But, throughout the story, she shows that her frail demeanor doesn’t represent the strong virtues of Phoenix. By demonstrating her mental and physical resiliency, bravery, and compassionate selflessness, we know that her character is strong.