Les Brown once said, “Our ability to handle life’s challenges is a measure of our strength of character.” In Eudora Welty's, “A Worn Path”, an elderly black woman goes on a journey on a worn path to town to get medicine for her grandson. She has trials and problems going through the path. The character, Phoenix Jackson’s persistent and her easygoing, which impacts on her braveness. Phoenix Jackson shows persistence when “a bush caught [her] dress" (Welty). She did not let the thorns wrapped up in her dress stop her from going to town. Instead of stopping, she just untangles herself and moves on her way. She also shows persistence when the hunter tells her to go back home and she replies, “‘I bound to go to town, mister’” (Welty). After he told her again to turn around and go back home, she stays persistent by reinforcing him that she needs to go to town. …show more content…
When she enters the field of dead corn, she thinks she sees a ghost, but it is actually, a scarecrow. Instead of being angry about the fake scare, she just dances with the scarecrow as the wind blows. "'Dance old scarecrow...while I dance with you'"(Welty). After dancing with the scarecrow, she moves along in her journey and as she walks, she says to herself, '"walk pretty...this the easy place. This the easy going"' (Welty). This also shows how relaxed she is walking through the worn path. Instead of walking fast or having a timid walk, she walks with
Her journey takes place in the cold, rough, middle of winter, "It was December - a bright frozen day in the early morning" (p. 98). Phoenix pays the weather no mind and continues to press on to save her sick grandson’s life. She had to endure walking in the harshly cold temperatures. The story shows us that regardless of the circumstance the weather shows no mercy. Since her trip is far out in the woods, Phoenix leaves early the morning of her journey in order to get started as soon as possible. Phoenix emerges from the woods to a very steep hill to say, " Seems like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far" (p. 99). Even though Phoenix is very determined in her journey the hill gives her an extreme challenge. "Something always take a hold of me on this hill--pleads I should stay" (p. 99). We then see how Phoenix endures the pain and challenge of the hill for her grandson. Just another of the many ways that Phoenix shows love for her
“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.
Phoenix Jackson survives the great depression, which tells us that she is an older woman who is very wise, and maybe a little scattered. In the beginning of the story, Phoenix is on a journey, she walks slowly in the dark pine shadows through the pinewoods. The author introduces Phoenix, as an old black woman and the author writes, “Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag, coming along the path through the pinewoods” (183). The reason why she is taking such a long trip into town is because her grandson is very sick, and she needs to get medication for his throat.
In the story “a worn path” the main character phoenix an African American woman, is on a journey to the city to get medicine for her grandson. At the onset of the journey it seems simple but as the journey progress there emerge several obstacles along the way that brought conflict with her. The challenges along the way include her age, her socio economic status, and others, all these challenges are the example of conflicts she faces during the entire story.
It’s December when Phoenix starts on her journey to Natchez and it is a journey she has taken many times before. This journey is no journey an elderly and weaken person should have to make by themselves, yet Phoenix does. She does not allow her age or her condition to keep her from it. Deep through the pines, the path takes her, and her first task would be to make it over a hill that seems to take all her energy and strength. “Seems like there is chains around my feet, time I get this far…” (Welty 5), here the reader can tell Phoenix does not have the strength that she really needs to make it up the hill. Yet somewhere she finds the will to keep pushing on and moving forward. This same type of spirit that allows Phoenix to keep pushing forward in society, and not to back down. Showing the younger generation that you have to fight your way through to a brighter day. It is later down the path that Phoenix comes to a creek and the only way to get across, is by walking on a log. Phoenix walks across this log with her eyes close. Once across she opens her eyes and says, “I wasn’t as old as I ...
Phoenix’s journey is a little long just by walking alone in the middle of the
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...
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 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.
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...
She says this because it is difficult for her to walk up the hills because she has a cane, and she is elderly. When she reached the bottom of the hill a bush caught her dress, to which she says, "thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass, no sir" (DiYanni, 92). After she got her dress free from the bush, she continued her trail and came across a log that was laid across a creek, and in order to continue her journey, she would have to climb over that log. "Although she will not give up, Phoenix acknowledges the very real challenges she faces as an elderly person" (Dilgen). She closes her eyes and makes it across the log safely and says, "I wasn't as old as I thought" (DiYanni, 92). Even though she is not the most agile person, she had guts to cross over the log that was over a creek. After that, she came across a barbed wire-fence, "There she had to creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps" (DiYanni, 92). Phoenix managed to climb hills, got her dress caught in a thorn bush, had to climb over a log, and had to crawl through a barbed-wire fence, and despite all of that, she kept steady persistence which takes a lot of courage because most people would have given up at that
One of the main hindrances that stand in her way is the physical aspect of her age as well as the journey. Phoenix Jackson is very weak and feeble because of her old age so that makes her long journey very strenuous. Another physical obstacle is that she has to weave and duck under a barbwire fence. Her feeble body cannot handle such tasks at her age. The third hindrance she must defeat is that she must cross over a log that lay across a creek. This requires concentration, skill, and patients. Even people whom are twice as young as Phoenix have trouble doing such things. Not many other emotional force other then love is strong enough to give power to an old woman who is living only for one reason. She realizes that if she were to die then the fate of her grandson would be damned.
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.
Phoenix's precarious journey may seem dangerous, but her determination is what carries her through the obstacles she faces as she makes her way through the woods. Phoenix makes her way across the worn path and discovers many active opponents. She continues forward over barriers that would not even be considered a hindrance for the young. The long hill that she takes tires her, the thornbrush attempts to catch her clothes, the log that Phoenix goes across endangers her balance as she walks across it, and the barbed-wire fence threatens to puncture her skin. All of these impediments that Phoenix endures apparently do not affect her because she is determined that nothing will stop her on her journey. She keeps proceeding onward letting nothing deter her determination. ?The hunter(tm)s attempt to instill fear in Phoenix, a fear she disposed of years ago as she came to terms with her plight in society, fail (Sykes 151). She ?realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle ...
In Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson went great lengths risking her own life for her grandson, who couldn’t help himself. On her worn path she faced the world with courage. Although she faced difficulty in her early life, her faith remained the same to help those who were dear to her heart. She walk a worn path relentlessly facing obstacles along the way with a mind that is diminishing overtime. Through the problems that she is faced with, she remains humble. She is admirable because considering her old age, weakness and loss of memory, she is determined. Welty’s details of character, symbolism, conflict and theme creates a compelling and fierce Phoenix Jackson. The moral message in this short story is to show the setting and characterizations