The Two Paths

The textbook definition of a metaphor is “a figure of speech that describes something as though it actually were something else” (1935). Without using the words “like” or “as,” the author of a story has to use the right words to compare people, objects, or scenery to something different from what they are. An author also uses a metaphor to give a more enhanced description of something in their story. Each three authors use metaphors throughout their stories to give the reader a better sense of…

A Worn Path In Eudora Welty's “A Worn Path,” an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson sets out on a familiar journey to retrieve medicine for her sick grandson. Set in Natchez, Mississippi, she undertakes many obstacles along her routine path. The story was written in the 1940's, right after World War II and the historical plot includes racial prejudice, lack of education for the poor, and lack of transportation. In “A Worn Path,” racial prejudice in the 1940's was rampant and…

In the story A Worn Path by Eudora Welty is a story that represents high spirits, trust, brave, and life and death. Phoenix Jackson, from A Worn Path, has a mission/journey to go into town for her grandsons medication. She goes through many obstacles she is a very elderly women around her 80’s. The connection Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” the character Phoenix Jackson is symbolic to a Phoenix bird from mythology because they both rebirth, go on missions/journeys, and have high spirits to where…

Romantic and Southern Gothic literature are often seen as direct opposites of each other. The viewpoint shift that separates these two eras of writing is astounding. However, subtle differences are present within. Such similarities in story structure, characterization, and conveyed messages connect James Fennimore Cooper’s “The Deerslayer” and Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”.…

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…

One is to analyze the “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty that narrates of the old black woman who has to walk through the fields in order to achieve the medicine for the grandchild (Stang). It was written in 1940 and published - in 1941 (Stang). Besides, one has to mention that in Eudora Welty`s “A Worn Path”, Phoenix Jackson - the main character - undergoes all six stages of the hero`s quest: statis, answering the call, experiencing complications, finding allies, achieving a breakthrough and…

There are various symbols in the prose such as; the worn path, and Phoenix herself. The “worn path” is where most of Phoenix’s struggles occur. She is a sickly women who is walking a long distance on a road that has been taken by many before. The reader can also hint that this path shows her determination and endless love for her grandson. This is a symbol because where she is going is just not an easy walk she is put right in the middle of harsh weather conditions especially for her old age,…

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,…

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…

getting to her destination. As one critic says,” In “A Worn Path,” the author utilizes the conventions of the heroic journey to describe the adventures of a woman who is unaware of her own heroism” (Reisman). The story tells about the journey Phoenix goes on and how much trouble she goes through. The story also shows her heroism in going a far distance to get something as small as her sick grandson’s medicine. In this short story, “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty tells about the characterization,…