Symbolism in A Worn Path
In the short story, A Worn Path by Eudora Welty there are many symbols. The story takes place in the American South during the mid-twentieth century. The main character of this story is an elderly African American women named Phoenix Jackson, who is on her way to get medicine for her grandson who is sick. She ends up taking an extremely worn path to get to the clinic and on her way through the path she encounters a hunter. The hunter raises his gun and aims it at the woman. This obstacle is just one of the many she faces while traveling the worn path. She eventuallyreaches the clinic and receives the medicine she needed to help her sick grandson. She then buys a paper crane for her grandson in hope to make him happy. …show more content…
Such as on Phoenix’s journey she comes upon a field and walks through it "parting her way from side to side with the cane," (1325). This is a reference to the the Book of Exodus where Moses parts the Red Sea and takes the Hebrews from Egypt to the promise land. Phoenix also commands the animals of the woods to do things just like in the Book of Genesis where God gives man the ability to command the creatures of Earth. Another reference the Book of Genesis is when Phoenix sees the snake dangling from the tree which is a direct reference to the snake that corrupted Eve in eating the forbidden fruit which caused God to forsake Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. These examples were used because the Bible is the most well known text in the Western worlds culture that has symbols of self-sacrifice, life and death.
Throughout the short story of A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, symbolism is quite prevelate even if you can’t see or recognize that there is a symbolic meaning. Throughout the essay, I have shown you many symbols that stuck out in the short story. So hopefully the symbols that have shown have now stuck out to you and has gave you more of an understanding of the text in A Worn
In the short story, A Worn Path by Eudora Welty there are many symbols. The story takes place in the American South during the mid-twentieth century. The main character of this story is an elderly African American women named Phoenix Jackson, who is on her way to get medicine for her grandson who is sick. She ends up taking an extremely worn path to get to the clinic and on her way through the path she encounters a hunter. The hunter raises his gun and aims it at the woman. This obstacle is just one of the many she faces while traveling the worn path. She eventuallyreaches the clinic and receives the medicine she needed to help her sick grandson. She then buys a paper crane for her grandson in hope to make him happy. …show more content…
Such as on Phoenix’s journey she comes upon a field and walks through it "parting her way from side to side with the cane," (1325). This is a reference to the the Book of Exodus where Moses parts the Red Sea and takes the Hebrews from Egypt to the promise land. Phoenix also commands the animals of the woods to do things just like in the Book of Genesis where God gives man the ability to command the creatures of Earth. Another reference the Book of Genesis is when Phoenix sees the snake dangling from the tree which is a direct reference to the snake that corrupted Eve in eating the forbidden fruit which caused God to forsake Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. These examples were used because the Bible is the most well known text in the Western worlds culture that has symbols of self-sacrifice, life and death.
Throughout the short story of A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, symbolism is quite prevelate even if you can’t see or recognize that there is a symbolic meaning. Throughout the essay, I have shown you many symbols that stuck out in the short story. So hopefully the symbols that have shown have now stuck out to you and has gave you more of an understanding of the text in A Worn