A Worn Path Essay

An anonymous writer once said, “Is there anything more wonderful than a grandmother’s love for her grandchildren? It is just pure love nothing but pure love". In Eudora Welty’s short story, “A Worn Path”, Phoenix Jackson embodies a loving grandmother that would do anything for her sick grandson. While the difficulty of her unexplained journey her body and her mind never pleads her to stop. Phoenix’s perseverance is demonstrated by the meek fact that she keeps walking. She encounters many…

Though on the surface it seems to be a simple story about an old woman on a journey, Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” is highly symbolic. With a name like Phoenix, her allegorical potential is obvious, even if the meaning is slightly more cryptic in nature. Because phoenixes are symbols for cyclic death and rebirth, one could interpret Phoenix's character as a symbol for the oppressed, fighting or lose faith. They’re spirit will never perish. However, there are two other symbols whose presence in…

A Worn Path During our life we face many challenges. We have the ability to either choose to face them or run from them. Some challenges can be more difficult than others, for we are alone to face them. We encounter many crossroads during our journeys where we have to choose which path we take in life. Sometimes we open a door just to see that on the other side there is another closed door. Even though sometimes we are defeated by challenges they make us stronger and give us the ability to keep…

Phoenix Jackson, the main character in A Worn Path by Eudora Welty (1940), was an elderly woman with more determination than someone half her age. She is a woman living up to her first name! She is on a mission, and she will not allow anything to stand in her way. In this short story, we see a similarity between the mythological bird, the phoenix, and Phoenix Jackson. Throughout multiple obstacles in Phoenix’s passageway to her destination, her strength, resistance, and spirit persisted beyond…

Perseverance is a groundwork that provides the self-determination to accomplish dreams. Eudora Welty’s short story "The Worn Path" is set in the middle of the twentieth century at the time when African Americans were still facing discrimination. Welty tells the story of Phoenix, an old African American woman, who walks through the wilderness more often than not in order to obtain medicine for her sick grandson. The journey in to the town would not be very difficult to the average person.…

story, A Worn Path, by Eudora Welty, he or she begins to wonder why Welty chose the name, Phoenix, for her main character. As many people know, a phoenix stems from “the Egyptian myth about a bird which renews itself periodically from its own ashes” (Bartel). Considering the age and state of Phoenix Jackson, she seems like the least person to relate to the vibrant bird-like phoenix. However, Phoenix Jackson and a phoenix have a lot in common. Eudora Welty named her main character in A Worn Path,…

A Worn Path Eudora Welty, the author of “A Worn Path,” implements ways to put her past life and experiences into her stories. Eudora Welty was born in the great Jackson, Mississippi on April 13, 1909, and died July 22, 2001. She attended Mississippi State College for Women, University of Wisconsin, and Columbia University School of Business. Similarly, her excellent writing skills and past life in Mississippi become apparent in her short story "A Worn Path." For example, the story takes place…

The Effects of Impulse and Recklessness Decisions and actions are the pathways that lead to a change in the way of someone's life. The authors of "The Most Dangerous Game," "A Worn Path," and "The Truth About Being a Hero," Richard Connell, Eudora Welty, and Karl Marlantes, demonstrate how certain decisions and actions change one's life through their works. In addition, the following question is answered throughout each of their works: what is at the end of each pathway that those decisions and…

“The Possibility of Evil” a short story written by Shirley Jackson describes the protagonist, Miss Adela Strangeworth, as “knowing everyone in town.” On the other hand “A Worn Path” written by Eudora Welty explains a journey taken by an old Negro woman named Phoenix Jackson who was the story’s protagonist. In both these short stories the author purposefully uses a non-participating narrator to help the readers understand the story by developing a detailed setting and not allowing the readers to…

We all walk our own paths, although some paths are harder than others. In the story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson walks a path of devotion. Phoenix is an elderly black woman, and a devoted grandmother to her terminally ill grandson, who swallowed lye. Most characters called Phoenix Jackson “granny” or “grandma”. The white man, which helped her up in the woods, said “you must be a hundred years old, and scared of nothing.” Phoenix also ask a young lady for help tying her shoes,…