Symbolism of the Title a Worn Path

Phoenix also brought back memories of my deceased great-grandmother who suffered from a severe form of dementia. The emotion that I felt from the comparison involved a desire to escape the past association with my great-grandmother’s illness and on the same token it caused me to want to finish the story and to find that

In “A Worn Path”, Phoenix Jackson’s name symbolizes the mythological bird “Phoenix.” In mythology, the story of the Phoenix is about a large, magical bird that lived for centuries, created a fire for itself, and rose up out of the ashes renewed again. The bird’s color is described as shimmering red and golden/yellow. Eudora describes Phoenix’s skin as “a golden color” and her cheeks “illuminated by a yellow burning in the dark,” and the red bandana she wears around her head also symbolises the colors of the bird. The idea of Phoenix persevering, like the bird, despite what many would see as insurmountable odds is best seen through her meeting with the hunter. Even when the hunter points out how far the journey is to town for Phoenix, she simply answers, “I bound to go to town, mister. The time come around.” She answers without hesitation, showing that the idea of giving up never entered her mind. It is this resilience in the face of adversity that further ties Phoenix to her namesake.

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.

The story of A Worn Path goes perfectly with the title; it is a slow paced mood with lots of symbolic messages associated with life. Phoenix Jackson is just representation of one person reaching a simple goal but for her may take a little more effort. Bound by her physical ailments of being old, slow, and brittle she never turns back giving up her goal. Through the symbolic obstacles that author Eudora Welty so cleverly puts together, puts a sense of what everyone goes through in life. Eudora Welty brings forth a theme; with enough persistence and boldness we can overcome any obstacle that we face and reach our goal. As we go through our life no matter what circumstances we may be in, there should be nothing that keeps us from achieving. Just like Phoenix Jackson she works towards a goal so important to her heart; she doesn’t let any obstacle come in her way.

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.

In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty uses setting, characterization, and tone to illustrate the progresses of Phoenix, in a physical and emotional sense. The author illustrates the progress of Phoenix’s social, physical, and emotional sense to describe changing times and social norms. This allows the reader to get a clear and vivid out reach of what they are going to read about phoenix journey.

The title of the story, “A Worn Path,” is foreshadowing something coming to an end. In Phoenix Jackson's case, it could mean the last time she walks the path or it could even very well be her life. Eudora Welty describes Phoenix walking slowly in the dark pine shadows with a cane, indicating the rough journey ahead. Early on in the story, she encounters a thorn patch. In this story, it states,“Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let old folks pass, no sir. Old eyes thought you was a pretty little green bush.” The thorns represent some of the hurdles that hinder you if you are born black in America, especially in Jackson's time. The author uses imagery in the story to make the reader feel as if they know her. “God watching me the whole time. I come to stealing.” When Jackson talks to herself aloud the reader imagines the young spirited side of her.

His grandmother is the only relative he has left, and she makes the trip to town to receive medicine that soothes the pain. There has been no change in his condition, Phoenix tells the nurse, he sits with his "mouth open like a little bird." She also says that though he suffers, he has "a sweet look." Though Phoenix says he is not dead, some critics have theorized that he is. The Hunter The hunter encounters Phoenix after she has fallen into a ditch, the unfortunate result of an encounter with one of his dogs. He helps her up, demonstrating his willingness to assist a person in need. But his subsequent conversation with her reveals his disrespect for her and biased attitudes towards African Americans in general. When he learns that she intends to walk to town, he assumes Phoenix is not able to make the long journey and he tells her to go home; he has no qualms about issuing the order. But when she persists, he relents, assuming that the only reason "old colored people" would embark on such a long trail would be to see Santa Claus. In a second instance of disrespect, he tells Phoenix that he would give her a dime if he had one, unaware that Phoenix has already picked up the nickel that fell out of his pocket. In a third example, he points a gun at her face and asks if it scares her. He is amused by the fact that it does not, further emphasizing his insensitivity. Throughout the conversation, he refers to her as "Granny," as the other

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 paragraph 5 Welty said, “Seem like there is chains about my feet…” This is symbolic to Phoenix being a slave in her younger days. In the story Phoenix never reveals her age but it is known that she is old. She was most likely old enough to have been born as a slave and then freed as a young woman. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln enforced the Emancipation Proclamation which freed nearly three million slaves throughout the South.

“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’s, in “A Worn Path,” physical limitations eluded to the difficulties she faces throughout her journey.

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 "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,

Phoenix Jackson lived back in the country past the pines. She lived a lifetime of hardship. Her role in society is an old black woman in a white world, though she is not ashamed of her inferior position. She has walked a path periodically to get medicine for her chronically ill grandson who drank lye. On a cold December day, she shares one of her journeys to the hospital in Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path." This specific journey is examined closely of an old woman full of dedication, dignity and high morale.