The Optimists Daughter Eudora Welty Analysis

The setting is New Orleans, Louisiana in the Garden District. The cemetery, and her new home. She lives with her Aunt Claudia and cousin Aurelia, even though they aren't actually related. They live in a "shotgun" house across the street from the cemetery.

When we first meet Starr, we understand that she has two separate lives to live due to her race. She never planned on going to the party she was at in the first place, but has to go to keep her Garden Heights reputation alive. Thomas chooses to provide descriptions on how Starr feels about being at the big spring break party that she knows could cause some controversy because she attends Williamson. During the party, Starr feels like “there are just some places where it’s not enough to be me” (3). The author describes Starr’s struggles to maintain her Garden Heights life because she wants to be able to be whomever she feels to be herself. Thomas shows how Starr is tackle her self-concept through keeping her Garden Heights life separate from the Williamson Prep life. In

Welty hasn’t published any new volumes of short stories since “The Bride of Innisfallen” in 1955 and it renewed her interest in fiction. In the early 1970’s to 80’s she wrote many novels and short stories. Her most complex stories in “The Golden Apples” won critical acclaim, and she received a number of prizes and awards throughout the following decade. She won the William Dean Howell’s Medal of Academy of Arts. Welty also won the letters for her novel “The Ponder Heart”. In the 1970’s she published two novels, “Losing Battles” and “The Optimist’s Daughter”, which was much more critically successful and won a Pulitzer Prize. Her autobiographical book “One Writer’s Beginnings” is a remarkably useful account of her origins and development as a writer.

Often, people can be similar through their basic details such as gender or general location, yet they can be vastly different in all other aspects of life, including their personalities. Eudora Welty depicts this in her novel by showing two completely different people put in the same position. Fay and Becky are both married to a high ranking official, move to a new town where they hardly know anyone, and have to overcome death and disease. The novel The Optimist’s Daughter portrays two contrasting characters, Fay and Becky McKelva, through the honor of society, the love of a husband, and the idea of selfishness.

Eudora Welty’s short story, A Worn Path, circles around a brave old lady named Phoenix. Published in 1940, this story highlights what may have been a struggle for a colored woman in this time. As Phoenix sets off for town she encounters different situations. Of course Phoenix’s journey is not easy, but Welty uses her and her journey to remind readers that no one is perfect, walk by faith, and have courage by all means.

Welty is interpreted as a supporter along with mentor in Eudora’s life. Mrs. Welty has assisted and persuaded Eudora to the reading path. Eudora’s mother helped Eudora with having an exception to Mrs. Calloway’s rule of checking out only two books. Eudora’s mother supports Eudora by confronting Mrs. Calloway, being a rare sight because Eudora “never knew anyone… being afraid” of the librarian. Her mother standing up to Mrs. Calloway displays her confidence and willingness to do anything for her daughter.

Eudora Welty was a Southern fiction author in the 1900s who revealed the dynamics of family, whether they be whole or broken, through her depiction of pure characters in the rural South. Welty grew up in a “close-knit and loving family,” sharing with them bonds of “devotion, camaraderie and humor” (Marrs). Two of her most notable works include Delta Wedding and The Ponder Heart, which both focus around family within the southern United States. Although Welty’s works are written with a light-hearted tone, not all of her works speak of a warm theme; while wholeness and unity of family are portrayed in her books, brokenness and fragility of family are displayed as well. Welty examines the complex dynamics of family relationships as she utilizes

Which is in vast contrast of her transient lifestyle that she had elected prior to her heroic return to Fingerbone, the fictional setting for the duration of this novel. Painted as struggling township based around the simplistic things such as the train schedule. Another reminder of loss in this family’s life, reminding them of the loss of their grandfather,” …had a job with the railroad by the time he reached his stop” (Robinson 5). Furthermore, her nieces feel as though their grandmother failed to teach the ideas of love “She had never taught them to be kind to her.” (Robinson 19) This will resonate throughout this story as they continue to unfold different chambers within the elusive life of their impromptu mother, Aunt

Most fictional characters found in novels and short stories possess a characteristic that the reader also enjoys. In the case of Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path”, protagonist Phoenix Jackson has a few notable features that entice the reader. As the reader, I felt as if I possessed comparable traits to Ms. Jackson- the depth of her might captivated me as I have always been hardy too. Robert Saunders must have felt similarly when he read “A Worn Path” as he also highlights Phoenix’s strength in his article, albeit with different evidence than used in my unpublished paper “A Flame That Won’t Burn Out”. Phoenix’s toughness is something that every reader notices because it is such a predominant trait (as Welty desired). Consequently, my argument that Phoenix Jackson is a robust woman is supported by Saunder’s article, especially based on the ideas of similarity to the mythological phoenix, strength during adversity, and Phoenix Jackson’s connection with nature.

What risks would you take in order to help a sick loved one? In “A Worn Path” a very old colored woman takes a very long and risky, but familiar trip despite her age and the obstacles that she might face. Written in 1940 by Eudora Welty, a time where people of color weren’t seen equal, “A Worn Path” displays the characteristics of a realistic short story.

Though the Phoenix is old and frail she takes a journey to get her grandson’s medicine. During her walk, she encounters her first trial by having to cross a bridge that is only made up of one single log to cross a river. She then says, “Now comes the trial” (Welty 1940) then she closed her eyes and negotiates that obstacle impressing herself by doing so. The next obstacle she is faced with is when she fell in the ditch after hitting a black dog with her stick. Phoenix then scolded herself for putting herself in this situation. After the white hunter helps her out of the ditch he points his gun at her and asked if she’s scared. Phoenix replies “she’s seen many guns go off much closer to her that he is, and for less reason than what I have done”

By using a narrator that is outside the story, Eudora Welty shows us how powerful and motivational true love can be (theme) through the character Phoenix Jackson in “A Worn Path”. Although Pheonix faces many challenges in an attempt to get the medication for her grandson, she never gives up, and eventually prevails, but there are certain traits she holds that give her the ability to accomplish her end goal of retrieving the medication.

James Saunders wrote an interesting article “’A Worn Path’ The Eternal Quest of Welty’s Phoenix Jackson” (The Southern Literary Journal 25.1, Fall 1992: p62-73.) that not only analyzed Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” (The Collected Works of Eudora Welty) from his perspective but also included the perspectives of other authors which makes his article an excellent source for interpretations of ‘A Worn Path’.

The past week, I have read the first 2 section of this book. It allow me to share the experiences with her by reading her poems, her detail in writing, the dramatic words she used and also each section has their own story to tell. The first section begins her story of moving in to a whole different world, from the non-spatial city of New York to a wide country state of Kentucky. The second section, Ada Limon describes her story through poems about the death of her stepmother.

Even though Mrs. Hopewell loves her daughter, she is blind to Joy’s need for acceptance. Mrs. Hopewell does not understand that Joy is content with the way she is, therefore Mrs. Hopewell is alway trying to get Joy to smile and be pleasant. This gets on Joy’s nerves and makes her crave acceptance even more. “...[W]hen Joy had to impressed for these services, her remarks were usually so ugly and her face so glum that Mrs. Hopewell