Eudora Welty's short story entitled "A Worn Path" has an apparently basic plot, the journey that the main character, Phoenix Jackson, takes to town to retrieve medicine for her grandson. With her detailed writing, Welty illustrates great development of the main character as well as creating a tone of uncertainty throughout the story.
             Phoenix's journey begins in the pinewoods, which is where the majority of the story takes place. Her character is exposed as she speaks out loud to herself while encountering her first few obstacles. The hill, the dead bush that catches on her dress, crossing the stream on the log and the barbed wire fence she crawls under shows her as a resolute elderly woman. At times, she fancies herself a bit spry, "I wasn't as old as I thought," (Welty 151) she says to herself after crossing the log successfully. She even rewards herself by taking a rest on the bank and accepting a piece of imagined marble cake. Phoenix's moral fiber is uncovered as she encounters the hunter. A fallen nickel catches her eye as the hunter talks and as soon as she has a chance, her old hands retrieve the prize. Aware of her petty sin she comments that she knows God is watching her and as if to absolve herself, she quasi-confess' her crime as the oblivious hunter points a gun at her, "...and for less than what I done." (Welty 153). Pheonix's self-respect was apparent as soon as she arrived in town and she stops a passerby to tie her shoe for her, "Do all right for out in the country, but wouldn't look right to go in a big building" (Welty 154).
             Thru ought the story Welty creates a sense of uneasiness, not knowing what this elderly woman was doing traipsing through the woods and where she would end up. With Phoenixs' age and worn condition apparent, I was at times sure she was to meet her death in this story. If the objective...