A Worn Path Criticism
Eudora Welty has written many famous and respected short stories. She was born in Jackson Mississippi, which has influenced many of her stories. She often shows a southern experience in her writing most likely due to her southern upbringing. She has stories in many collections such as A curtain of Green (1841) and The Optimist's Daughter (1972). Welty writes with much humor and explicit detail. She never leaves any of the details out and has a knack for dialogue. Her characters, she says, are often people she has seen through her daily life. Welty will spot a person and conjure a story about where they are going, or what they are doing. This is the case for her short story "A Worn Path." Welty said in an interview that she was sitting under a tree and saw an old Negro woman walking by. This is how her famous tale came to be. Eudora Welty projects a theme of life and its struggles through her famous short story "A Worn Path". Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist of the story, takes a journey twice a year. She travels to the city of Natchez to receive charity medicine for her sick grandson. Her trip to the city is not easy since it is winter, and she faces many obstacles along the way. This story at a glance seems simple
There are many areas in this story where critics have found symbols that could be seen as biblical suggestions. " After she surpasses these trials she is walking along the easy part of the path. All of these biblical references simply suggest the immortal Christ figure. This is where the theme of death comes into play. He carries a sack around with him, is constantly laughing, and gives a gift of a nickel to Phoenix (334). There are many other references, for example when Phoenix is walking through the cornfield. Christ died for human sin and rose up from the dead, much like Phoenix who risks her life to gain medicine for her grandson (Barnhisel 324). The Phoenix bird is a very common symbol of immortality. There are many references to death throughout the story. The reader might see that as a suggestion towards Moses parting the red sea (334). The life and death of the story often match Christian ideas. It becomes a ritual in which she must complete for she thinks her grandson is still alive. '"(341) Phoenix Jackson needs to be looked at on a psychological level as well (Bartel 288).
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