Symbolism In A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

Blurred Reality

In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the main protagonist, Phoenix Jackson, experiences a series of obstacles on her pursuit to acquire vital medication for her grandson. Phoenix is constantly delayed by delusions caused by the consequences of a shadowing past. The author uses a plethora of symbolism to create an emblematic explanation which connects the events on her trek to town, and her dark past as a slave. Her asperous memories, create a safety harness of delusions causing Phoenix to become caught between two realities: One that is burdened and realistic, and another that is imaginary and innocent.

In her burdened realty, Phoenix is an elderly lady who, wields a cane and cannot bend down to tie her own shoelaces which the

It is explained by Welty that Phoenix went into the ditch very easily with much force when she says, “Over she went in the ditch, like a little puff of milkweed.” (Welty) This represents how easy it was for white men to enforce black men out of their homes and enslave them. To a white male, it was as regular as a little puff of milkweed being blown out by soft wind. As she lay in the ditch, the dog sits staring at her, satisfaction clear on his face. Welty shows this when she writes, “...now there he sitting on his fine tail, smiling at you.” (Welty) While she lay waiting, hoping for someone to find her, a white young hunter discovers her and assists her out of the ditch. Once she is back on her feet, she is immediately insulted and mocked about her age and intelligence; treated as an object to be used, beaten, and ridiculed. In Kevin Moberly’s article, “Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’ and the Slave Narrative Tradition,” he quotes Butterworth, “‘[t]he whites who confront Phoenix reflect the usual attitude of their generation towards the Negro.’”(Moberly 109). This man insulting Phoenix, is doing the exact same thing as he was taught growing up, which was to treat them as the intelligent beings they believed them to be. This white man handles a black dog which symbolizes the dark and devilish dominance they utilized while stealing the blacks from their lives and

Her path to town is worn down with the past memories of enslavement but are disguised as a softer reality made to be less traumatic for Phoenix. Her entire journey symbolizes the movement to end slavery. Her grandson is the surrogate for the slaves she tries to free, and the healing medicine she seeks is the solution for ending slavery. This all supports that Phoenix’s encounters on her journey symbolize the stages of slavery all the way from white men taking blacks from their homes, to the final and victorious ending of slavery which Phoenix fought for in her past just as she fights for the