Symbolism In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

When Welty describes Old Phoenix it is very easy to see the similarities with the bird of Egyptian myth. Then after carefully describing Phoenix’s physical appearance, Welty incorporates the use of other senses as well. The sound of a bird that Welty uses is just one example of how subtle Welty can be when mixing the Egyptian bird into the story. These examples prove that Phoenix is not just an ordinary character but instead, Old Phoenix is a character with a higher meaning.

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.

Also during Phoenix’s encounter with the hunter, the reader and Phoenix face the possibility of her death at the hands of the hunter. Yet, even as the hunter tries to exercise his racial superiority and intimidation over Phoenix, she again never hesitates. When the hunter points his gun into Phoenix’s face her response is simply, “...I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done.” The hunter even threatens, “But you take my advice and stay home, and nothing will happen to you.” Phoenix’s answer is simply an unflinching, “I bound to go on my way, mister.” Again Phoenix symbolises the bird as she refuses to give in to even the

Overall, Phoenix Jackson’s character adds to the story through her humble, maternal strength. Phoenix’s love for her grandchild brought her through many challenges, but year after year as she completes her trek, she keeps her grandson as her top priority. This overwhelming level of determination allows her to keep hold of her most valuable possession. Through her actions she reveals to the reader that her humble, caring, determined nature allows her to overcome the odds and provide for her family as well as maintain a simple Southern elegance.

Phoenix also symbolizes a mythical bird; she has “the regenerative qualities of the bird are seen in Phoenix’s determination each time she suffers a setback,” Like the bird how it gets reborn again Phoenix keeps on getting up from the challenges and keeps on going just like getting reborn again. That is why the author named the main character Phoenix because she is like the mythical bird the phoenix in many ways even the description of Phoenix gives symbolism of her being like the bird. Phoenix wears a red rag to tie her hair and running underneath her skin “a golden color” [welty1274]. The image of the bird is shown in Phoenix’s face “the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark” [Welty 1274]. Her golden tone skin represents the fiery golden red feathers the bird has.

The mythological story "A Worn Path” is of tales and figures, the most considerable, being the legend of the phoenix. There are numerous symbols and allusions brought about in the story relating to the legend of the phoenix. The phoenix is a bird that comes from Egyptian mythology. The best analogy of the phoenix is a magnificent bird. The phoenix has astonishing powers. It has the knack to materialize and vanish in the blink of an eye. The myth states the phoenix travels to the sun. The sun gives the phoenix it powers. The heat incinerates the bird. The bird is reborn from the ashes. From her name along with appearance to her action and the symbolism throughout the story, Phoenix Jackson is the manifestation of the phoenix (bird).

A person’s journey can have symbols that come through everyone’s life. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Eudora describes symbols by using people that come through Phoenix’s path while she’s in her journey to Natchez. Eudora uses a nickel, marble cake, big dead trees, mistletoe, and a white hunter to symbolize Phoenix’s difficulties and obstacles that she had to go through in order to get to her destination.

The story revolves around the main character, Phoenix Jackson. Jackson, an older woman with “numberless of branching wrinkles” that form a “whole little tree in the middle of her forehead,” encounters many setbacks, including poor eyesight, fatigue, multiple falls, thorn bushes, and barbed wire. In Saralyn R. Daly’s, “‘A Worn Path’ Retrod”, it is stated that “Phoenix encounters not mere difficulty on her path, but evil,” (Paragraph 1). Although the obstacles seem as though they will get the best of her, she perseveres through each like the ancient mythical bird, the phoenix. Ancient Greek mythology says the long-lived phoenix bird cyclically regenerated from its predecessor’s ashes after being engulfed in flames to burn to ash. After every fall, akin to a phoenix dying, she rose again, stronger, persevering as a phoenix does through its death.

In this short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, I will be analyzing symbolism. In the story “A Worn Path” the author uses symbolism to create a figurative explanation of the occurrences in her journey. This story has distinct symbols from myths, historical, and biblical events. The character Phoenix Jackson has various trials to go through on her way to town to get more medicine for her ill grandson.

“A Worn Path” tells of an elderly and frail black woman and of the hardships that she must overcome. Upon reading the story, you realize that there is more to the story than meets the eye. She faces many roadblocks along her way. Phoenix faces many dangerous obstacles along her way, for a person of her age. She faces racism from some of characters she meets along the way. Phoenix faces inferior treatment, as though she is nothing more than some insect to squash. This story is about not only her ‘journey’ to Natchez, but also about her journey through society and the struggle to overcome the dangers, being treated inferior, and the racism.

Phoenix Jackson in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" has been compared to the mythological phoenix because of her birdlike qualities, and it's also been noticed that Phoenix possesses many of the same characteristics as Christ. But, what hasn't been addressed is the fact that Eudora Welty didn't just leave the symbolism to Christ alone. Welty also included many biblical allusions as well. Phoenix Jackson is not only symbolic of the mythological bird that rose from the ashes of its own demise or simply a Christ figure comparable to the Son of God, but she is also a biblical hero facing temptation and trials along her journey and succeeds unharmed and steadfast in her faith.

In the story “A Worn Path” uses a continuous number of literary techniques and there is an overflow of symbolism. In the story everything symbolizes an object symbolism is when an object in the story can relate to something. Symbolism is a literary technique that adds meaning to a story by using an event or object as a symbol to represent something else. Phoenix Jackson represents the most important thing in the story the ancient Egyptian bird the Phoenix. The story “A Worn Path” takes place in December 1941. It’s about an old lady named Phoenix Jackson that goes to town in Natchez, Mississippi to get some medicine for her grandson who had swallowed lye many years back. Phoenix faces some obstacles on her way to town that try to keep her

One of the first challenges that Phoenix encounters along her journey is the wild animals of the woods. Phoenix does not want anything, even “mother nature” preventing her from accomplishing her mission. As Phoenix Jackson begins her journey, she talks to herself and warns:

Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" is a story that emphasizes the natural symbolism of the

The flying eagle is another symbol in this film that has been exclusively embraced. The bird first appears to Molly and her mother at the beginning of the movie. Her grandma points towards the bird and says to Molly, “See that bird? That’s a spirit bird; he will always look after you.” This scene shows the bird importance to the Aboriginal. The bird gave Molly the courage to escape Moore River. While in