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Literary analysis of the worn path examples
Character of phoenix jackson
Examples of symbolism in “a worn path” by eudora welty
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PHOENIX in “A WORN PATH” In the story “A Worn Path”, Eudora Welty describes an old African American woman named Phoenix Jackson walks into the town to get her grandson’s medicine. Her name “Phoenix Jackson” is the most important metaphor. Her name alludes to the mythological bird “Phoenix”. Phoenix is the unique bird which lives for five to six hundred years. When its body becomes old and it is time for them to die, Phoenix bursts into flames and then reborn from its own ashes to live through another cycle. Phoenix’s startling ability to regenerate itself is the symbol of immortality. A Phoenix can represent sun, fire, pain, birth, death, rebirth, sacrifice, and power. Phoenix Jackson is similar to Phoenix because of her name. Additionally, the …show more content…
sentence “Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag, coming along a path through the pinewoods.” (page 1) shows that Phoenix Jackson have a red rag on her head which is look like the red feather of Phoenix.
Besides, Phoenix Jackson “carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her. This made a grave and persistent noise in the still air that seemed meditative, like the chirping of a solitary little bird.” (page 1). The sentence compares that she makes sounds like the sounds of Phoenix bird when she goes in the path. Her skin has “a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the dark.” (page 1), so her yellow burning skin looks like the gold plumage of Phoenix. Therefore, Phoenix Jackson is described resemble the colors of the Phoenix which are red and yellow. Furthermore, the image when she falls in the ditch which full of weeds symbolizes the bird in its nest. Phoenix Jackson has her routine journey to the town “So the time come around, and I go on another trip for the soothing – medicine.” (page 11) and “I bound to go to town, mister. The time come around.” (page 6), which imply to a time of renewal and repetitiveness. Cyclic time of Phoenix Jackson is similar to life cycle of the Phoenix. She walks a long
distance from her village to the town, has to face many obstacles on the road, and she has to make her journey over and over again. Despite her age and her failing eyesight, she is very brave and persevering in going to obtain medicine for her grandson as long as she can walk. Correspondingly, her name insinuates to the timelessness of Phoenix. The obstacles she meets which always try to destroy her will, but she could never be suppressed because she is indicated having a strong spirit to deal with it. In the end of the story, the words “Phoenix rose carefully” (page 12), it considers to the meaning of Phoenix’ regeneration. She is very old but she declines to die or drop out. Her routine journey symbolizes the life goes on for the old woman like the Phoenix which she is associated with. Therefore, Phoenix Jackson also connects to the resurrection of her and her grandson. Both of them are the metaphor of Phoenix. She is the old Phoenix and her grandson is the new Phoenix. She isn’t as old as she thought because she is reborn for every trip. Her grandson is reborn with medicine as well. After reading the story, people know that Phoenix Jackson never went to school and had the education because she was too old. Consequently, it relates to “the surrender” in 1865 which means the South surrendered at the end of the Civil War and the freeman were provided the opportunity to study to change her poor life. Phoenix Jackson has the same ability of Phoenix because she can rise from the ashes of poverty, racial isolation, social injustice, and the ashes of the Civil War to live a long and full life.
Her trip is full of obstacles, from bushes of thorns that get caught in her dress, to her crossing of a creek. These elements complicate the conflict and increase the readers' curiosity about the plot. Phoenix can't trust her eyes, choosing instead to walk along with her eyes closed and sense her way with the help of her cane. While needed rest forces her to stop for a while, she has a vision of a little boy handing her a slice of marble cake. So many questions arise in the minds of the readers. Who was the little boy? Is she halluci...
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 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
Phoenix Jackson in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" has been compared to the mythological phoenix because of her birdlike qualities, and it's also been noticed that Phoenix possesses many of the same characteristics as Christ. But, what hasn't been addressed is the fact that Eudora Welty didn't just leave the symbolism to Christ alone. Welty also included many biblical allusions as well. Phoenix Jackson is not only symbolic of the mythological bird that rose from the ashes of its own demise or simply a Christ figure comparable to the Son of God, but she is also a biblical hero facing temptation and trials along her journey and succeeds unharmed and steadfast in her faith.
This story is so simple but tells more than just an old African American trip to town for medicine for her grandson. But from a great insight, Phoenix Jackson developed a sense of responsibility toward her grandson, who actually might be the only person in her life. The moral of the story tells about an old African American woman named Phoenix Jackson who was taking a journey from her home into town to seek some medication for her ill grandson. During this journey, the story describes Phoenix Jackson facing struggles and obstacles against her eye sight and old age, as well as nature’s obstacles, thorn bushes and barbed wire. Through these obstacles, Phoenix Jackson is able to depict her poetic view of the world through symbolism.
22). The imagery of the clock gives a visual image of Phoenix unsteady walk and partial reasons why she carries a cane. After reading the first two paragraphs of A Worn Path one might wonder why is an elderly woman in such conditions out in the cold. Not until further along in the story does the author go into depth of the character’s reasoning for traveling out in the cold. In spite of Phoenix’s condition and old age you see her determination in paragraph three. In paragraph three she demands any obstacles or troubles that may try to come along her path to move out of her way because she has a long ways to go. The story goes into description of the pathway the woman is following; along the way she may have had little hope or faith until, “Down in the hollow was the mourning dove-it was not to late for him.” (Weltz, 1941, p. 22). Doves have many significant symbols and in paragraph four the dove symbolized hope for Phoenix. This symbol may have encouraged the woman that she still has time. We also learn in this paragraph that the reason Phoenix is traveling this pathway is to help someone she cares
Phoenix Jackson had a vivid description painted for herself by the author. Phoenix was a small and frail elderly Negro woman. She wore a red rag tied upon her head holding up her yet black, curly hair that fell into ringlets. Upon her, she wore a long and dark striped dress with an equally long apron over the top of it. Upon her feet were untied tennis shoes. She always carried her thin and small cane with her, which was actually an umbrella. Her old eyes were blue with age, and her skin had become a pattern of numberless branching wrinkles. By being able to create a vivid picture of Phoenix, the author has allowed a connection between her character and the reader where the reader can now comprehend Pho...
Upon a first reading of Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path”, it appears to be a simple story about an old woman going into town to procure medicine for her sick grandson, who has swallowed lye (Welty 3). After further readings and doing research, the deep meaning and depth of the story becomes apparent. The worn path is much more than a routine route regularly traversed into town and back to home. The protagonist Phoenix Jackson has many more layers than the way she is perceived as an apparent no account drifter, charity case, whose only reason to head into town is to see Santa Clause (Welty 2). There is significant meaning behind the interactions with people, places, and objects that Phoenix crosses paths with on her journey into town. Every interaction and situation presents Phoenix with the opportunity to learn and grow as a person and as a culture. The sick grandson represents more than a sick boy at home waiting for medicine to heal his physical ailment (Welty 3). Welty uses a myriad of symbols to tell the story of the long and arduous journey blacks take going from slavery to free Americans. A journey that takes lifetimes of accumulating knowledge, gaining wisdom, and then passing everything learned to the children. The next generation builds on to, and hones the gained wisdom and further refines the knowledge as they pass it on to the next generation. It is the gained wisdom that is constantly reborn like the Phoenix in mythology (Mercantante 527). In, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson symbolizes the past and present population of black Americans and the worn path represents her experiences and the wisdom she has gained, soon to be reincarnated in her grandson, the future generation of black America.
“A Worn Path” told the story of an old woman named Phoenix Jackson. She had to make a long, adventurous journey to town in order to receive medicine for her grandson who had fallen ill. Phoenix Jackson was determined to reach her destination, and she did not let anything stand in her way. Throughout her voyage, she displayed characteristics of being brave, unselfish, and senile.
In the modern short story, Eudora Welty clearly develops Phoenix Jackson as a main character who indirectly manipulates other people. Phoenix, as the speaker in “A Worn Path” holds the status of an old Negro woman who continues the everyday cycle of life. Although, in reality Phoenix is an average human being, who feels she must be rewarded for living. Phoenix believes that humanity owes her something for the troubles she encounters throughout her lifetime. When Phoenix says to the hunter, “that’s as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for my trouble” (paragraph 46). Incidentally, Phoenix replies to the old hunter’s question it is quite clear that she undoubtedly is expecting compensation; whether it is a pity party or a monetary gift to settle the score. Because Phoenix feels like she must abuse other people, she appears to have the power to be in control of any situation that might come her way. Throughout Welty’s “A Worn Path,” Phoenix Jackson and her actions symbolize her to be a selfish and manipulative woman.
In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”, an elderly woman goes through trial for the greater good. Ms. Phoenix Jackson goes on a journey, most people could not take, to save her grandson’s life. Rachel Lister, an author of Literary Context in Short Stories Collections: Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’, states what kind of person Phoenix is: “[A] female subject [that] makes her way through a wood on a mission to help the afflicted” (par. 5). She goes through obstacles to get to her destination: she is attacked by a black dog, she goes through a barbed wire fence, she encounters a white hunter, and etc. Rachel Lister implies, “She faces a series of challenges and temptations” (par. 5). Nevertheless she is ambitious to finish her journey, although it is a cold winter day. “A Worn Path” is full of symbolism. Rachel Lister asserts, “The chains …, the thorns, and the barbed wire symbolizes the continuing oppression which restricts the social mobility of the African American people in the south” (par. 5). Ms. Phoenix is just not a character but she is a symbol for hope. Her character is portrayed as a Christ-like figure. She goes these trials to save her grandson from death...
Firstly, she is older in her years, she has poorer eyesight, and she doesn’t have the stamina of a younger person. There is no confusion in the fact that Phoenix is elderly. As people age there are more obstacles that on has to overcome in their day-to-day life. Once people start reaching older age, one’s body starts changing in various ways that make many of us have to depend on other methods of getting by in life. On multiple occasions Welty illustrates the idea that Phoenix is definitely a woman in her older years. Just one of many examples in her writing is, "Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles" (p. 98). Through the love and care for her grandson the challenges that she must face seem like mere stepping stones. In the story Welty makes implications that memories that Phoenix recalls of her grandson are so vivid and cherished in her mind that even her disabilities cannot hold her back from her
...ation. As Phoenix continues down her path, she runs into many hindrances that must be overcome. Sykes believes“Phoenix [considers racial] conflicts are just stones in the road, obstacles in the path” (np). Eudora Welty writes this story to tell of the maltreatment of blacks and to bring this issue into the light. She uses subtle and obvious symbols to prove how blacks have been treated throughout life and how many have just considered the obstacles in their path of life just like pebbles they need to pass on the road.
In the story The Worn Path by Eudora Welty, the main character Phoenix Jackson portrays a personality of a hero even in the hardest times. She is an African American elder who is a grandmother of a boy who is very sick. He swallowed lye which could have potentially killed the young boy. She decided that she needed to help him and walked along a determined journey into town for the hospital. She went through many obstacles slowing her down and hurting her not only physically but mentally.
Have you ever heard the saying “A heart filled with love is like a Phoenix that no cage can imprison”? In the short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the character Phoenix Jackson portrays this saying perfectly. Phoenix was an old Negro woman who struggled with poor eyesight and had a different outlook on the world. However, the love she had for her sick Grandson was unconditional and led her to take her journey, on foot, to a medical clinic where she received his medication. Throughout the story, realism is a powerful symbol and is substantially applied in a variety of ways amongst the character Phoenix Jackson and the challenges she has to overcome.