\"A Worn Path\"

Worn Path by Eudora Welty

"A Worn Path" is recognized as one of Welty's most illustrious and often studied works of what is considered to be short fiction. Illusorily simple in scope and tone and, the story is made to be very structured upon a journey theme that joins a rich worth of figurative significance. As stated by Alfred Appel, "A Worn Path' goes way beyond its decentralization for the reason that of its astonishing fusion of many basics of myth and legend, which participate the story with a religious meaning that can be generally felt."

Major Characters and Plot

"A Worn Path" is a poem that talks about describes the voyage of an elderly black woman who goes by the name of Phoenix Jackson. She is a woman that walks from her home to the city of Natchez. Phoenix does this because she wants to get medicine for her sick grandson. The scenery as Phoenix observes it turn out to be a primary emphasis of the vividly suggested story telling; nature is shown as interchangeably beautiful and as an impairment to Phoenix's development. As she walks, she starts struggling against penetrating weakness and poor vision, in addition to such obstacles as barbed wire and thorn bushes. The mutual properties of her poor vision, her old age, and her poetic interpretation of the world intensify the lyricism and symbolism of the story. For instance, for a dancing "ghost" she mistakes a scarecrow until she comes close enough to touch its sleeve which is empty. A mainly tense episode happens when she comes in contact with a white hunter who at first appears friendly, but then makes a patronizing suggestion that she is almost certainly "leaving for town to see Santa Claus." When he unintentionally drops a nickel, Phoenix sidetracks him and achieves in picking it up, believing that she is thieving as she normally does so.

The hunter abruptly points his gun at her, and even though he may have seen her pick up the nickel, it is uncertain what his real incentive is for this threatening sign. Phoenix, on the other hand, has no fear in her at all; the hunter starts bringing the gun down lower and she goes on to continue on her way uninjured and without bringing the nickel. As a final point getting closer to the "shining" city of Natchez, Phoenix walks into the "huge building" -- seemingly a hospital -- where a nurse starts asking her questions about her grandson, enquiring if he has died or not.

At first, Phoenix remains strangely quiet, as if she has gone deaf to the nurse's queries. She then starts making some apologizes, claiming that her memory had all of a sudden failed her -- that for an instant, she could not recollect why she had even decided to make her long journey in the first place. The story concludes with Phoenix's heartfelt account of her grandson, whose throat was wounded numerous years ago when he absorbed some lye. Phoenix announces that he is not dead, obtains the medicine for him, beside with another nickel, with which she chooses to purchase him a Christmas gift -- a "little windmill."

Major Themes

In "A Worn Path," Phoenix Jackson arises as a character who sustains; she is considered to be the symbol of stamina, perseverance, and life in the facade of death and hardship. Commentators have been making the notation that her pure strength in pursuing the long journey alone and on foot really does point to these qualities, as does the mythical inference of her name, for instance, when it comes to Phoenix -- an Egyptian bird representing revival. Christian symbolism is moreover obvious in the narrative. For instance, the fact that the story is set all through the Christmas season has guided a lot of critics to connect Phoenix's voyage with that of a pilgrimage that has some kind of religious theme to it; her selfless worry for her grandson is understood as demonstrating the self-sacrifice and true spirit of giving. Even though much of the story's element rests on the symbolic and imagistic use of language, the action of the plot likewise displays Phoenix in straight encounter with the outside world -- a civilization run by white individuals who have little respect or understanding for her condition. A man that goes around hunting in the forest assumes that she is going to town merely "to see Santa Claus," while a nurse dismisses her as a "charity" case and offers little sympathy for the plight of Phoenix's sick grandson. Because the story is completely free of authorial intrusion or explanatory commentary, the images and events that happen in the narrative remain open to an assortment of reader clarifications.

Other themes of "A Worn Path" can likewise be understood in the modern day world these days are lie, duty and guilt. Lie is presented both by the hunter and Phoenix Jackson. The hunter lied to Phoenix in regards not having any kind of money, and Phoenix lied, in a sense, by taking the coin that had dropped out of the hunter's pocket (Welty 55). During this scene guilt was displayed by Phoenix right away and soon as she believed herself well-meant to be shot just for saying "No, sir, I seen a lot go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done (Welty 57). On the other hand, the hunter did not show any kind of guilt for his earlier act of aiming the gun at Phoenix -- an act that should have provoked fault. One more instance where guilt was revealed was when the clinic attendant decided to hand Phoenix another coin; this appears to be her way of recompensing an earlier aggressive statement "Can you hear? Are you deaf?" To Phoenix (Welty 59). The person act of giving out the nickel likewise displays "obligation." In paragraph 93, she makes the point, "Grandma, its Christmas time," This only statement is sufficient to tell us that her way of doing things was not powered by love but by "obligation" ever since Christmas is thought to be a time of giving a gift. The same can be understood with the woman who knotted Phoenix's bootlaces -- because of duty in regards to Christmas season instead of sincere concern for the aged (Welty 64).

With all that being said, it is clear that the main theme of the story would have to be endurance. Also, Jackson's name itself signifies rebirth, and coming up out from the flames. In spite of her age and clear infirmity she makes the hard walk alongside the path, and none of the difficulties in her way are able to stop her journey. Even though sometimes reliant on aid from others she is established to keep going. Also, her chat with the nurse at the end, and other signs, make it obvious that she has made this trip numerous times and proposes to keep doing so as long as needed.

Courage is another theme that could be used all through the poem. It is clear that Phoenix's courage and true assistance are emphasized by her happenstances with the young hunter and the clinic workers. When the hunter belittles her and boasts of himself for the reason that he walks to the extent that she does when he searches little birds, with which Phoenix associates her grandson, for the reason that he is able to do things like order his dog to run off the weird dog that has scared her, and since he has a rifle he was able to point at her, the reader sees the righter courage of her heart -- not simply in her absence of fear of the gun nonetheless in her entire journey also. The hunter's courage derives from his tools and youthful foolishness that he has. When the clinic workers start reminding her twice that hers is seen more as a charity case, anticipating gratitude for what they provide, they contrast abruptly with Phoenix who dreams of and joys in bringing her grandson joy and comfort. In oncoming true charity, in which love instead of self-praise is the reason, Phoenix attains true courage. However, In Phoenix, Welty offers an epitome of goodness.

Out of all the themes, love appears to be the most critical theme. It appears that Phoenix was certainly a woman that was of great sacrifice. Even though quite old and suffering from illnesses, Phoenix Jackson frequently walks a long distance to get medication for her grandchild. She makes the trip, even in cold weather, when the frozen earth is slick. Her journey -- the worn path she trails -- proves her love for the child.

Critical Reaction

Critical conversation of "A Worn Path" largely has been immersed with thematic interpretation of the work, and most of this was particularly involving the story's Christian motifs mythological, and racial situations. Putting the emphasis mainly on the story's Christian motifs, one critic named Neil D. Isaacs had his own set of remarks, he looked at Phoenix's Christmas voyage as a "religious journey" with a satirical end that proposes "corruption, self-indulgence, cynicism." Likewise putting some light on the Christian themes in the work, Sara Treeman gave reference to the story's theme of basically self-sacrifice, making the point that the worn path "is worn for the reason that this is the symbolic journey created by everyone who are capable of self-sacrifice, of whom Christ is the archetype." (Bartel) The presence of secular mythology in the text has also been the subject of discussion by such critics as Dan Donlan, who perceived the prominence of the Egyptian myth of the Phoenix in the structure and symbolism of the story. A man named Frank Ardolino came forward making the argument for a conflation of Christian and mythological interpretations of the work, displaying how "alongside with the Christian themes of reawakening, the sequences of natural imagery shown in order make the theme of life coming from death." Another interesting theme in A Worn Path" is the racial element which also has been a subject of critical debate. William Jones made a comment in 1957 making the point that "the key motive that Miss Welty picked a Negro appears to be that merely a somewhat simple, remote individual is well-intentioned of demonstrating the influential forces which are inspiring a lot of things that are within the poem such as the love as hers that they have for her grandchild."

John R. Cooley, in difference, reasoned for a wider social reading of the story, giving a lot of criticism to the sentiment of the work and blaming Welty of not doing a good job at all with "developing her racial portraits with good enough sensitivity or any kind of deepness." Nancy K. Butterworth answered to Cooley's calculation and others with the observation that "Welty's persistent rejection to use fiction as a stage, predominantly for political or sociological matters, in addition to her give a lower profile and even denial of racial inferences in her stories."

Symbolism

Throughout the way of her journey, Phoenix at different times is visited a lot of times by dreams. On one occasion, a boy appears to her proposing a part of marble cake; later, flat on her back and wedged all the way in some ditch, another dream comes her way. Each time, when she throws her hand out, nothing can be found. There is not any marble cake for her either, and nobody is standing right there to grab her hand and to help her come out of the ditch. It is obvious that the marble cake appears to be symbolic of the whites and blacks trying to get along as one-- to merge -- in the south during the 1930s and 1940s. also, Phoenix throws her hand out a couple of times, first to accept the cake and then to attain aid getting up, and both times, there is not anything that can be seen -- the vision of racial harmony is not all the way realized, however Phoenix retains reaching for it.

When she is "discovered" by a white hunter, he is condescending, and even though he aids her out of the ditch, he then belittles her mission: "Why that's way too far!" he exclaims, "This is as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for what I am going through." As if an old black woman has no drive for walking to town. "Granny, move on along home!" he says. Later, chuckling, "I know you old colored people! You wouldn't even think about missing going to town just to see Santa Claus!" (Wiedemann) The hunter likewise scoffs her with his gun, indicating it straight at her. It is virtually as if he is making sure that she know her place in the white world by using humor such as in a threatening gesture.

Tone and Images

Furthermore to the location, the name of Phoenix Jackson has symbolism. Barnhisel makes the point that "Phoenix Jackson's name is considered to be a suggestion to a mythical bird recognized as the 'phoenix'." Now, this bird's home is out in the desert and lives for something like 500-600 years. This bird starts to set itself on fire, to come up again from its own ruins (Barnhisel). This represents immortality. There are some religions essentially believe in coming up again, just like Christ. As stated by Rachel Lister, Welty defines Phoenix as a private little bird. Also, Lister makes the point that "some [birds] feature conspicuously in the story; some represent the delicacy of Phoenix and her grandson and others are more menacing and appear to signal death." However, in the story, Phoenix sees a bob-white "pushed" in the hunter's bag, "its beak bent severely to display it was not alive (Welty 33). This image hesitates backwards and forwards.

Contemporary World View

Welty's "A Worn Path" was published sometime 1941, but it does not mean that it is not relevant in today's society. In our society today, there is a lot of racism that still goes on just like it was in the book. Even though a lot of it is more subtle than it was during the time of the book. Eudora Welty subtly exclaims race and racism into her story and it is quite obvious. She does this without ever being didactic, which is much like it is interjected in the contemporary society of today. Welty finds a way to forces her reader to have some sort of sympathy with Phoenix Jackson, not just as a frail but strong-minded old woman, but as representation of rising above the additional burdens and effects that historical and current racism remain to present.