A Worn Path
The short story I read "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, is the tale of the unstoppable love and care of a grandmother for her grandson. It tells a story of determination of Phoenix Jackson "an elder Negro woman" and how she walks a journey through the woods and fields on her way to town to get medicine for her chronically ill grandson. As she begins her journey, she talks to herself and warns, "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!...Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites...Keep the big wild hogs out of my path" (Welty 306), because as she says, "I got a long way" (Welty 306). She has taken several times before, and now "The time come around"(Welty 309), and she must travel it again. "Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin has a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles" (Welty 306). "She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock" (Welty 306). The description of Phoenix Jackson and how she is walking through her journey at the beginning of the story symbolizes how difficult this trip is for her and what she
She asks, "He isn't dead, is he?" Phoenix responds with, "No missy, he not dead, he just the same. This story reminds the reader over and over that she truly loves her grandson, and that she is determined to overcome any obstacle to achieve her goal. Her perseverance in the face of tremendous obstacles is admirable considering her age and declining health. Not to long after a bush a stray cur (dog) startles Phoenix and she falls into a ditch. is facing as an elderly woman such as herself for her unstoppable love and care of her grandson. First, she has to face an uphill climb. Throughout the story, she has signs of senility and delusions including her meeting of a scarecrow, which she initially thinks, is a man. At that point she is placed in the story to down point, where she trapped and helpless with only her love and desire that still strives in motion. Eventually, a hunter comes along and helps her get up. She supports herself with a cane, striving not to fall with every step she takes just adds to her difficulties. When old Phoenix reaches "to take it there was just her own hand in the air" (Welty 307), and nothing else around. Old eyes thought you was a pretty little green bush" (Welty 307), and manages to free herself from the thorn bush. " She tells the nurse "he not able to swallow. At that point the man says, "you must be a hundred years old, and scared of nothing. When Phoenix reaches her destination, the reason for her mission is given.
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Acceptance Essays
