Symbolism In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, she introduces readers to an African American woman by the name of Phoenix Jackson. Jackson is the epitome of an upstanding human being; she makes a tedious and enduring journey in the dead of winter to get medicine for her ill grandson. As Jackson travels along, the author carefully places symbolism throughout the story. The path itself represents a human beings journey through life and the trials Phoenix faces along the way represent the obstacles in life. The medicine Phoenix receives is symbolic of personal goals in life, and the windmill she buys for her grandson is symbolic of the reward people receive after they overcome obstacles in life. All three symbols carry parallelism to Christian beliefs. The

The first obstacle she faces is when her dress catches onto a thorny bush, the thorny bush symbolizes negativity, or negative people that try to hold others back from an achievement. Another challenge Phoenix faces happens when she crosses over a creek. This obstacle symbolizes the fear that comes when you’re unsure of your abilities. The creek also creates parallelism to part of the Christian scripture of “walking by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinth. 5:7). Another symbolically important obstacle comes when a black dog makes her fall into a ditch; the dog symbolizes tribulations that arise that may get people off course in life. Lastly, the dog can symbolically represent the devil, and how he uses his trickery to make humans fall short in the walk with God. Phoenix faces many more trials throughout the story, but the lesson in the symbolism of the path is that no matter what obstacles mankind faces, mankind must

From Phoenix’s encounter with the man in the forest, and the “charitable” donation from the lady at the office, it allows her to buy her grandson a toy windmill. She explains, “This is what come to me to do.” (240). The windmill symbolizes rewards in life. Phoenix could have easily rewarded herself with the ten cents she acquires on her trip, but she chooses to get her grandson a present. As humans journey through the course of life and start to reach our goals, we often receive rewards from our efforts. The religious symbolism/comparison is the reward Christians receive at the end of life. Some rewards are for personal enjoyment, but the author shows through Phoenix that the best reward comes from doing things for others. The lesson from the symbolism of the windmill is that throughout our journey in life, we should never lose focus of what’s important, which is