A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

Hester tells Paul that luck is “what causes you to have money. If you’re lucky you have money. That’s why it’s better to be born lucky than rich. If you’re rich you may lose money. But if you’re lucky, you will always have money.” (236) This pushes Paul to desperately seek out luck so that his mother will be grateful for her life and provide her family with the love and affection that they so rightfully deserve. Paul believes his rocking horse is full of magical powers, which will help him achieve the luck he needs to gain his mother’s love. While Paul rides his rocking horse, the horse predicts the winning horse and ends up making Paul an appalling amount of money. Paul gives his winnings to his mother who squanders it on unnecessary materialistic things. He realizes that he must win more money to win his mother’s affections. He becomes mad and frantically searches for the next winner of the horse races. On Paul’s last ride to find the last winner of the horse race, he falls of the horse and eventually dies.

Paul is infatuated with luck for after being convinced that luck is the bane of his father and family he feels as if he is responsible for maintaining his family 's happiness with the success that his luck brings. Whispers that creep through his house are whispers of depression and doubt that plague Paul driving him forwards thus he states, “I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop the whispering" (Lawrence 8). Paul finds himself encumbered with the burden of maintaining a family 's happiness. As an adolescent hoping to please his mother Paul must push himself past the limit of the

Paul doesn’t feel comfortable living in his hometown due to his mother's illness(from the snowball incident) and her choices of actions. His guilt from his youth, causes him to leave town, become a magician and join the carnival. Paul started feeling guilty as he grew older, when he could finally understand what happened, and he believes and from what he understands he blames his mother's illness on himself. "... it was my birth that made her like that. My father thought it was his duty to tell me, so that I could do whatever was possible to make it up to her. My birth robbed her of her sanity... I was too young for the kind of guilt my father wanted me to feel. I couldn't stand it." (Davies, p.261) Due to his father being unable to care for his mother's illness, Paul is lead to believe more into his guilt that his mother's illness is all caused by him. “Paul was not a village favourite, and the dislike so many people felt for his mother–dislike for the queer and persistently unfortunate–they attached to the unoffending son.”(Fifth Business. page 32) " I can call up in an instant what it felt like to be the child of a woman everybody jeered at and thought a dirty Joke." (Davies p.261) These two quotes lead to Paul being frowned upon in the town. Many take second guesses to talk to Paul because of the direction of Mrs. Dempster losing her

the love and care he unknowingly needs. Paul takes on roles that disguise his own traits and turns him into what he believes to be a person nobody can say no to. When he takes on these roles, he

Paul has made countless choices in the book “Tangerine” by Edward Bloor which has lead him to many consequences. The choices he makes are tough and are not the easiest to make, but they help him develop as a character and in the end shape who he is. Usually these choices associate with something unwelcoming and lead to bad consequences but starting towards the end of the book Paul starts to let himself free from these consequences by making newer and better ones whether they are or are not for the great or good.

Paul stole more than $1000, enough to live for a month in New York City, at the time of the story, and only if spent cautiously. But, no... Paul would have none of that. It would have been a waste to have more money than he had ever seen in his life, and yet live just as he had throughout his life. He wanted to live in style, the way the rich folks did. So, Paul spent the money within a week on all the best clothes, the best food, the best hotel room, the best flowers, and the best life. The money disappeared within a week and Paul was forced to leave it all behind and return to the dreariness of middle class existence.

237). By riding his rocking horse Paul is able to predict the winner of horse races at the track. He uses this ability in an attempt to provide for the family. In doing this he tries to assume his father’s in an attempt to please his mother and the household’s constant whispering the need for more money. “I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 240) even as Paul is dying he is still consumed with trying fill the role of a provider for his mother, “I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse and get there, then I’m absolutely sure – oh, absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!” […] “But the boy died in the night.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 245). Paul’s death was a sacrifice to please his mother, who put her desires for money and material things above the love of her children.

After being forced to leave his job as an usher at Carnegie Hall Paul gets a job working at Denny and Carson's office firm. He gets the money to go to New York City by taking the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank from Denny and Carson's deposit and pockets it. Paul arrives in New York and lives the luxurious life by buying fancy clothes and checking into a nice hotel. After eight days in New York his fun runs out when he discovers in the Pittsburgh papers that his father had reimbursed the firm and was coming to get him. "Paul had just come in to dress for dinner; he sank into a chair, weak to the knees, and clasped his head in his hands. It was worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever" (Cather 11). After succeeding

In "A Worn Path", a short story by Eudora Welty, the main character, an old colored woman named Phoenix, slowly but surely makes her way down a "worn path" through the woods. Throughout her journey, she runs into many obstacles such as a thorny bush and a hunter. She overcomes these obstacles and continues with her travels. She finally reaches her destination, the doctor’s office, where she gets medicine for her sick grandson back home. Many critics have speculated that this short story represents the love a grandmother shows for her grandson. Others say this story represents life and death, where Phoenix represents an immortal figure. Dennis J. Sykes disagrees with the other critics by saying,

“ The rocking horse is used as a symbol that represents Paul's doubts and anxieties. The voices originating from his horse shows that the “new and modern” rocking horse is a bad influence for Paul. Although Paul is no longer a child necessarily, he still has an odd, peculiar “friendship” with his childhood toy. Paul's decision to continue riding his rocking horse to victory can also symbolize his increasing madness towards the end of the story. “...he would sit on his big rocking horse, charging madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at him

The mother’s addiction to money through greed influences Paul when she gives him the notion that “luck” is tied to success. Despite the fact that the mother’s lack of money is due to her wasteful spending she projects the consequences

D. H. Lawrence also shows conflict between Paul and his mother through a second level of secrecy. He writes the story using the style of story telling or a fantasy style of writing. "The Rocking-Horse Winner" starts off with "there was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust" (Lawrence 524). According to Junkins "mother is the poor, unsatisfied fairy princess who yearns for happiness; Paul is the gallant knight on horseback who rides to her rescue" (88). Lawrence uses this form of story telling to show the reader the conflict Paul has when trying to win his mother's love by giving her riches.

From this first encounter with the Kittredges, Paul immediately begins acting as if he were Flan`s son. After Paul first barges into the Kittredges door due to a fake mugging, he immediately treats Flan as if he were his father by cooking and cleaning for him. For Flan, this treatment causes Paul to fill the void of his children at college, so Flan also begins treating Paul as a son. For instance, Flan gives Paul a pink shirt that belonged to his son Woody. The shirt however, had sentimental value to Woody as his father gave him the shirt when he realized that Woody had become muscular. The shirt, which represented Flan`s love, was passed from Woody to Paul, signifying that Paul slowly replaced Woody as Flan`s son.

In a world that is so diverse, social discrimination is an issue that many have to face everyday. Discrimination can be used by an individual's: race, age, religion, and even one's class. A Worn Path, written by Eudora Welty is about a woman by the name of Phoenix who goes on a long journey to get medication for her grandson. On her journey she comes in contact with a hunter, and many other complications. In the short story, an overall theme of social discrimination is shown through the use of Racism, Ageism and Classism.

Paul`s life is in chaos as he is attempting to uproot his entire life by creating a façade to appeal to the white upper-class. It is this façade, however, that gives Paul control in his life as he is finally able to belong to a family with the Kittredges. This imbalance in Paul`s life causes him to be an Other because he has changed his entire life to simply swindle wealthy whites.