Essay On Phoenix Jackson

In the stories To Build a Fire and A Worn Path, Jack London and Eudora Welty tell the stories of two protagonists going on arduous journeys during the winter. Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist of A Worn Path, is an elderly lady hardened by the trials of life as a black woman living in the Southern United States, prior to the Civil Rights Era. She is surprisingly limber, resilient, and healthy for her age and has assumed the responsibility of caring for her sick seven- year- old grandson. She diligently provides him with the medicine necessary to treat him for the ingestion of lye. The young man, the protagonist in To Build a Fire, is a young northerner who is responsible for himself and his dog. He is besieged by the petulance of youth and ignores the advice of his elders, depending instead on youthful bravado to guide his decisions. Ultimately, on these two journeys of survival, both protagonists will depend on their life experiences to guide them through. The young man will be guided by his limited life experiences while Phoenix will depend on her wealth of knowledge to choose her path to survival.

She does not let this affect her on her and she continues her journey to go get the medicine. Being a former slave and all she is used to the abuse on her body and can withstand it. Not only physically wounded but however Phoenix is mentally wounded in a way that she is uneducated. She never learned how to read and write as she spent most of her years as a slave.

The story “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty tells the story of a woman named Phoenix Jackson, who lives in Natchez Mississippi. Phoenix has a grandson that she cares for that has swallowed a chemical called lye, that was in many households back when Welty wrote this story. Lye poisoning was common in rural areas. Welty is writing about this problem the hardship Phoenix Jackson went through to receive medical treatment at that time. Without the name Phoenix Jackson and the characteristics, she possesses there is no way she could overcome the obstacles that stood in her way.

Phoenix, on the other hand, was a selfish manipulative old woman who had an obsession with power. She was on a journey through the woods to the city, where she had many encounters. When Phoenix encounters the hunter she steals the money that falls out of his pockets. She always seems to want something for her troubles. However, later in the story while in the hospital, Phoenix has a totally different personality. She seems to have no guilt for the actions she makes.

While reading the story it appeared that Phoenix does not have a Grandson, or at least he was not alive anymore. She told the Doctor that her Grandson had a sore throat for a long time. When the doctors asked how

Most people accomplish difficult tasks with support systems such as family or friends. Phoenix knows she is alone in the world to care for her grandson. This knowledge of solitude makes Phoenix’s mission all the more difficult. The incident with the white hunter along her travel also demonstrates Jackson’s determination. As stated by Dennis Sykes, “Phoenix realizes that the importance of the trip far exceeds the possible harm that can be done to her brittle frame”(151). Phoenix’s ability to stare down possible bodily harm all for the sake of her grandson’s wellbeing demonstrates her heroic determination. By overcoming adversity, Phoenix’s determined character is revealed very well.

Phoenix shows determination by getting by all of these obstacles and getting to town. Her determination to get to town shows that she would not let anything get in the way of something she knows she must do.

First off, she is making this journey in the middle of winter with no proper clothing, shoes, or equipment. She goes on this journey fully aware that if something would happen to her, no one possible would find her. This journey is not on a set path where people travel daily, yet a worn path made her own. Phoenix's body is worn and giving away, yet time again she hikes herself up the hill, crosses the creek, crawls under the barbed wire fence, and puts up with the criticism the hunter piles upon her. By these moves, the author has proven to us how determined and driven this woman is to make the journey to town for her grandson whom she lives to love and care for.

She is willing to risk her own life to save her grandson. Phoenix makes an extremely long trek to town every time her grandson needs more “soothing medicine” (318; 91). She overcomes many boundaries along the way to town; it is apparent that she is wholly determined. Phoenix is “…very old and small and she walked, …moving a little from side to side in her steps, with a balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock” (314; 1). On her journey to town, she states, “I too old, I the oldest people I ever know” (316; 26). This proves that she is a very “old” woman who most likely would not be normally able and willing to make this trip to town by foot. The only reason that Phoenix Jackson is capable of doing this is because of the passion for her grandson inside

Phoenix Jackson, this old lady pass through plenty of difficulty to go to town just for her grandson’s medicine. She walked through thorns, creek, barbed-wire fence and field of dead corn and met a hunter who intimidated her by a gun. She wasn’t afraid of those difficulties and overcome them pluckily. The love for her grandson which gave her huge courage to do so.

On the way to getting her grandson's medicine she has to deal with a lot of harsh conditions to get to the big city. She has to go through marshes and thorn bushes. "Swampy part where the moss hung as lace from every limb." "Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let anyone pass, no sir ". Phoenix has endured going through thorns and swampy places so that she can get the medication for her grandson. She never gives up, no matter how tough things get. She is determined to get to the city as soon as she can so that she can get back to see her grandson. Phoenix also forgets her purpose for the mission in which she goes every now and then. But soon after she remembers and keeps on going.

In addition to symbolism about her character, the conflicts present in the story allude a character of extreme determination and perseverance. Among these conflicts are those of man, Phoenix Jackson, against nature, man, and herself. In regards to man versus nature, Phoenix quite plainly faces a variety of troubles along her path to the clinic, including “a black dog with a lolling tongue [that] came at her” (Welty) causing her to collapse into a ditch “which is a symbolic burial in the dead weeds” (Daly). Secondly, man versus man entails her confrontations with the hunter and the nurse at the clinic. The hunter helps Jackson out of the ditch, back onto her feet, but then “he … lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix,” (Welty) yet she was unphased by the action. Albeit the hunter was disrespectful towards Jackson, the nurse she encounters upon reaching Natchez is charitable: offering “a few pennies out of [her] purse,” (Welty) but ultimately granting her a nickel. Finally, Phoenix faces an internal struggle with the questioning of her purpose

A worn path is a story about a woman named Phoenix Jackson who needs to go a journey to town to get medicine for her sick grandson. It is a trip she has made before many times before (hence the title A worn Path) but there is something special about this trip, something different. In this paper I plan to dwell into the symbolism behind the Legend of the Phoenix and its relationship to her journey in the story. The legend of the Phoenix is about a fabled sacred bird of ancient Egyptians, said to come out of Arabia every 500 years to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on altar and rose again from its ashes young and beautiful; symbol of immortality. I think this story also represents Christian beliefs because the setting is

Phoenix lived in a society where racism was still running strong. Yet she faced and dealt with that every day of her life. As an African-American slave, she would have toil in the fields, wondering if she would still be alive by the time the sun was setting. Phoenix is visible shaken with a run a scarecrow she believed to be a ghost. She says to image, "'Ghost,' she said sharply, 'who be you the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by” (Welty 24).Slave mothers would often show that same fear as they watched the shadows return from the field; wondering if their loved ones were still alive or was going to come home unharmed. Phoenix faced those same fears as a mother and grandmother. If Phoenix was caught in the

Phoenix stays strong and keeps going. When she faces the hunter and the black dog, she does not stray from her mission. The critic Owen speaks of Phoenix’s courage when facing the hunter and dog: “ Phoenix taunts him (and by extension his dog Pete) with the threat of a big black male dog who is unafraid of the white hunter's imagined authority”(31).When the hunter points his gun at Phoenix, she could cower in fear, but she stays determined to go into town for her grandson’s medicine:“ ‘No sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done,’ she says”(Welty 6). Phoenix faces another challenge when she must cross the log covering the creek (Welty 2). This task is difficult because of her age and eyesight. When caring for a child, there are many difficulties that have to be faced every day. It is how we deal with these issues that ultimately determine the success or failure of raising the child. Phoenix proves to be a success because she overcomes each one and gets her grandson his medicine.