Phoenix Jackson In A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

In “A Worn Path” colors are used to emphasize the depth and breadth of the story, and to reinforce the parallel images of the mythical phoenix and the protagonist Phoenix Jackson. Eudora Welty’s story is rich with references to colors that are both illustrative and perceptive, drawing us in to investigate an additional historical facet of the story.

In the short story A Worn Path by Eudora Welty she focuses on the journey of an old woman heading into town. She uses ridiculous amounts of imagery which really make the story come to life. I believe this short story to be about a woman that has gotten so old, she has cataracts and it seems, the air of a wise woman. Speaking of wise women, it also shows that she really has grown up on this path- even in her old age, her stumbling blindness she knows the characters of these woods, and the ways in which she should twist to get the town she grew up not so far from. I would like to focus on the feminist tones of this story, and how they apply to Phoenix Jackson- the protagonist. Each story can be interpreted in any way, but this story shows severe feminist undertones that really focus on a woman’s role in society, and what can be taught later on in society- that even apply to today. Women in today’s society are fighting for equal rights for women in general, but also people of color, so this view definitely applies to this story.

The Reader Response Approach to Welty’s “The Worn Path “ assisted in the understanding of Phoenix Jackson’s mentality and the language that was used showed her unusual responses to people and things around her.

In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” the character Phoenix Jackson is introduced. Phoenix Jackson is an uneducated, African-American woman without any family besides her sick grandson. Phoenix is the hero of this story and fits the role well by delivering much-needed medicine to her grandson. Phoenix shows many distinct traits that reveal her to be a hero to her grandson. The heroic feats she accomplishes pave a path that leads to her satisfaction as well as protection of her most beloved asset, her grandson. Throughout the story, Phoenix’s humble, caring, and determined character is displayed through her actions.

“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty portrays an elderly, southern, African American woman’s endurance through a lengthy journey from her home to Natchez, Mississippi to obtain medicine for her ill grandson. Throughout the journey, the protagonist, Phoenix Jackson, confronts several conflicts. The tale describes the encounters of Phoenix Jackson during her travels using literary devices such as symbolism, conflict, and allusion to detail Jackson’s experiences as she overcomes the physical, psychological, and social obstacles she faces that ultimately emphasize her character.

The early 1900s was a very challenging time for Negroes especially young women who developed issues in regards to their identities. Their concerns stemmed from their skin colors. Either they were fair skinned due mixed heritage or just dark skinned. Young African American women experienced issues with racial identity which caused them to be in a constant struggle that prohibits them from loving themselves and the skin they are in. The purpose of this paper is to examine those issues in the context of selected creative literature. I will be discussing the various aspects of them and to aid in my analysis, I will be utilizing the works of Nella Larsen from The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Jessie Bennett Redmond Fauset,

For many decades, Eudora Welty’s genius has given rise to a community of critical thinking and debate. In “’A Worn Path’: The Eternal Quest of Welty’s Phoenix Jackson,” James Robert Saunders (1992) explores the various interpretations of Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” by fellow critics who seek to make sense of the subtle and explicit symbolism throughout the story. Saunders goes on to analyze proposed theories such as that Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist, was symbolic of a religious figure and that Jackson’s grandson is in fact dead, but concludes that these arguments lack or ignore evidence throughout the story and pertinent history. Instead, Saunders proposes that Jackson is an individual with special abilities that allow her to protect nature and the innocent through the power of love (Saunders). In my analysis “’A Worn Path’: The Path of the Phoenix,” I acknowledge the deliberate use of the setting and character background implemented by Welty and conclude that Jackson is “the embodiment of the hopes and struggles African Americans experienced in a post-Civil War era.” Consequentially, after analyzing Saunders’ article, my argument that Jackson is an emblem of African American evolution finds strong support in the three points Saunders makes: Jackson lives up to her name, protects the innocent, and remains determined even against all odds.

Through the character of Phoenix Jackson in “A Worn Path” Welty produces a picture of an aging African-American woman in the Jim Crow South. In “A Worn Path” we learn of the hardships Jackson faces on her weekly journey for medicine to sooth the pain of her grandson. Welty conveys this these hardships by giving the reader insight into the physical health, the mental health, and the socio-economic status of Jackson.

Once the North won the American Civil War, slaves in America were emancipated, but they still had to face segregation through out the country. Since Phoenix is an African American, it is reasonable to say she represents that social class as well. Women of that particular time period could be represented by Phoenix, since she is a woman, because they were overcoming the patriarchy of society. Phoenix’s name also depicts her own character as she gets past her obstacles and keeps traveling on the worn path. In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” Phoenix Jackson’s name is symbol of the society that surrounds her and depicts her own character.

Harriet Jacobs, in her narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery in the south. While her youth contained “six years of happy childhood,” a few tragedies and mistresses later, Jacobs spent many years in pain under the possession of her cruel five-year-old mistress, Emily Flint, and Emily’s father, Dr. Flint. Once able to obtain freedom, Jacobs spent most of her life working for the Anti-Slavery office in New York, in hope that one day she could make a difference in the world. “She sought to win the respect and admiration of her readers for the courage with which she forestalled abuse and for the independence with which she chose a lover rather than having one forced on her” (Jacobs 921). Linda Brett, the pseudonym that Jacobs uses to narrate her life story, endures the harsh behavior women slaves were treated with in the south during the nineteenth century. The dominant theme of the corruptive power and psychological abuse of slavery, along with symbolism of good and evil, is demonstrated throughout her narrative to create a story that exposes the terrible captivity woman slaves suffered. The reality of slavery in the past, versus slavery today is used to reveal how the world has changed and grown in the idea of racism and neglect.

Eudora Welty uses partial third person to evoke sympathy from the reader for Phoenix Jackson by revealing her thoughts in the conversations she has with herself. In these conversations, readers get a glimpse of her deteriorating mental clarity and health that comes with age. Her growing senility can be seen when she sees the scarecrow as a ghost. She tells the scarecrow, “who’d you be the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by” (Welty235). Readers are drawn into Phoenix’s hardship through statements like, “it was my memory had left me. there I sat and forgot why I had made the trip” (Welty 239). In everyday life, one can both sympathize and relate to her hardships, struggles, and triumphs. In “The Worn Path”, Eudora Welty describes Phoenix Jackson in a such a manner, the reader feels as if Phoenix is right in front of him/her; this can seen in the visual images of skin having “numberless branching wrinkles as though a whole tree stood in the middle of her forehead”, or “she is very old and small” (Welty233). My favorite description of Phoenix is “she walked slowly in the dark pine

Although Phoenix Jackson is old, tired, dirty, and poor, nothing can stand in her way. In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” Phoenix jumps off the page as a vibrant protagonist full of surprises as she embarks on a long, arduous journey to

In her article “Welty's 'The Worn Path,'” Dennis Sykes mentions that Phoenix Jackson lived in a time after the Reconstruction Era when she states that “Phoenix Jackson witnesses the Southern black’s transformation from slave to citizen” (151). At the same time, the author emphasizes that the obstacles Jackson had to face in her journey are a reflection of the struggles African American people faced before the establishment of the amendments that protect their rights. Sykes sees Phoenix as a symbol of the strength and perseverance that African Americans had in order to achieve integration and equality in the south. Furthermore, the writer demonstrates that there is no difference between the old woman’s journey and the mission to social transformation.

Especially in the first paragraph, Welty uses the rhetorical device of simile and precise description to depict the protagonist, Phoenix Jackson, as an old, small, lonely and weak widow. The rhetorical device not only makes the descriptions come alive, but also allow the readers to imagine freely. This description indirectly shows the African Americans’ great suffer from racial discrimination. Finally, for dialogues in A Worn Path, the words of Jackson are usually not with proper grammar and sentence structure usage. Welty wants the reader to notice this change in order to inform that the blacks received little or no education at that

The author uses her characters, both human and animal, to exhibit the obstacles blacks must face in everyday life. Dennis J. Sykes agrees in his article, “A Critical Analysis of the Worn Path” that “Phoenix Jackson’s … encounters with other characters illustrates the theme of impending black equality and amalgamation in the south after Civil War” (np). The characters,