Free Essays on A Worn Path

Life’s Journey Every person, living and dead, has a story to be told. Phoenix Jackson is no exception. Some may perceive the story on Phoenix’s journey to town in a sad light. Each journey however, must have some trials and tribulations just as Phoenix does during her trip. Phoenix’s difficult journey to town seems to indicate that the struggles she has endured throughout her life enable her to possess the wisdom to overcome many obstacles. Throughout her journey Phoenix endures a number of problems not allowing any of them distract her from her goal. Before she gets very far she finds herself entangled in a thorn bush that with some persistence she frees herself from. This seems to indicate the difficulty of the impending travel ahead. The path soon comes to a small creek only to be crossed by walking the log that makes the path. This is obviously no easy feat for an old woman walking unsteadily with a cane. Yet Phoenix makes it across safely. Through barred wire and after a tumble into a ditch she finally makes it safely and unharmed into town. Even the younger more capable hunter exclaims â€Å"Why, that’s too far† when he hears of her destination (McMahan 292). Phoenix does make it to town despite the difficulty of the journey and proves she has the persistence and wisdom of her years to enable her to survive. Three times during her trip Phoenix shows her wisdom by obtaining things from various people along her way. She shows her abilities first by managing to obtain money from a hunter who claims â€Å"Id give you dime if I had any money with me† (McMahan 294). To accomplish this she must distract the hunter from realizing he lost this valuable commodity. She pretends to be interested in watching his dog chase a cur and he subsequently goes off to do just that. She then quickly assumes possession of the fallen nickel. Secondly, she comes across a woman who obviously look down at Phoenix. T... Free Essays on A Worn Path Free Essays on A Worn Path You Can’t Trick Me Death is always lurking around us. Nobody really knows when death will come knocking at his or her door. In her short story, â€Å"A Worn Path,† Eudora Welty uses many different symbols that convey an underlying meaning that death is lurking around every corner and around every bend in the road. Some of these symbols include the title itself, â€Å"A Worn Path,† the rustling in the bushes, Phoenix Jackson’s dress catching in the bush, and the scarecrow and the black dog. All of these symbols represent death in one way or another. The first symbol is the title of the story and how it brings Phoenix Jackson to her journey of â€Å"A Worn Path.† This path is familiar to Phoenix, for she has traveled down it her entire life. As Phoenix starts her long journey through the deep ominous woods, she knows anything could happen if she is not careful. With her ears and senses alert, she makes slow but steady steps into the woods. Phoenix hears rustling in the bushes as she makes her way along the path. Phoenix does not see anything, but she thinks the wild animals might try to get her, so she says â€Å"Out of my way all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!† (87). The path Phoenix takes is the path of her life. She knows death lurks behind every shadow and can take on any form or shape. The rustling in the bushes represents the evil that could cross her path and interrupt her way of life. People can sense when their time of existence is near the end. They will take painstaking care to look presentable when entering Heaven. Phoenix’s â€Å"long dark striped dress† gets caught on a bush, and to her this is not acceptable. She says, â€Å"Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass† (87). Phoenix finally frees herself from the bush. Death plays many games, and this is one more that Phoenix has endured and overcome. At times people feel like the devil has a hold on them. The ... Free Essays on A Worn Path A Vital Path Life is full of purposeful journeys. These journeys are often taken to overcome, to succeed, or to protect. In Eudora Welty’s short story â€Å"A Worn Path,† the elderly Phoenix Jackson sets out on one of these voyages. Her trip down the path is a vital part of her life and essential to the survival of her grandson and herself. Beginning her perilous trip to town, Phoenix confidently exclaims, â€Å"’Out of my way all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons, and wild animals!†¦I got a long way.’† Phoenix knows what trials she must face, and she is determined to overcome them. When her eyesight fails her and she is caught in brambles, she works intently to remove them from her tangled skirts and continues along her way. Phoenix encounters even more challenge when the initially amiable hunter becomes unpleasant and disrespectful and tries to frighten her into going home. Needless to say, Phoenix is not deterred; she says, â€Å"’I bound to go on my way, mister,’† and continues down the path. Surmounting these challenges keeps Phoenix determined to complete her journey. Phoenix’s trip down the path is crucial to her sick grandson. Her love for him runs deep and she knows that she must make this journey for him. Without Phoenix’s resolve to repeatedly travel to town for medicine, her grandson’s illness may take his life. If that were to occur, because of Phoenix’s old age, she may no longer have the will to keep living. Phoenix also makes the journey for herself. The old woman’s name alludes to the fabled Egyptian phoenix that, after five hundred years of life, consumes itself in flames and is resurrected from its ashes. Like the bird, Phoenix Jackson periodically makes her journey and is, in a sense, reborn from her experience. When she skillfully crosses a log over a creek and says, â€Å"’I wasn’t as old as I thought,’† it is clear that the trials Phoenix faces on the path g... Free Essays on A Worn Path Life’s Journey Every person, living and dead, has a story to be told. Phoenix Jackson is no exception. Some may perceive the story on Phoenix’s journey to town in a sad light. Each journey however, must have some trials and tribulations just as Phoenix does during her trip. Phoenix’s difficult journey to town seems to indicate that the struggles she has endured throughout her life enable her to possess the wisdom to overcome many obstacles. Throughout her journey Phoenix endures a number of problems not allowing any of them distract her from her goal. Before she gets very far she finds herself entangled in a thorn bush that with some persistence she frees herself from. This seems to indicate the difficulty of the impending travel ahead. The path soon comes to a small creek only to be crossed by walking the log that makes the path. This is obviously no easy feat for an old woman walking unsteadily with a cane. Yet Phoenix makes it across safely. Through barred wire and after a tumble into a ditch she finally makes it safely and unharmed into town. Even the younger more capable hunter exclaims â€Å"Why, that’s too far† when he hears of her destination (McMahan 292). Phoenix does make it to town despite the difficulty of the journey and proves she has the persistence and wisdom of her years to enable her to survive. Three times during her trip Phoenix shows her wisdom by obtaining things from various people along her way. She shows her abilities first by managing to obtain money from a hunter who claims â€Å"Id give you dime if I had any money with me† (McMahan 294). To accomplish this she must distract the hunter from realizing he lost this valuable commodity. She pretends to be interested in watching his dog chase a cur and he subsequently goes off to do just that. She then quickly assumes possession of the fallen nickel. Secondly, she comes across a woman who obviously look down at Phoenix. T... Free Essays on A Worn Path In Eudora Welty’s "A Worn Path" the conflict was not apparent at the very beginning. What was a poor, elderly sick woman doing gallivanting in the forest during the dead of winter? The reason became clear towards the conclusion of the story as the action revealed that the conflict was obtaining the necessary medicine for her grandson. When this conflict became obvious, another question came to mind. What kind of society did this woman live in that she had to go all the way from her home in the countryside to the city by herself to get the medicine? The conflict being illustrated is that of an individual versus society and the four problems that Phoenix faces as a result of this was her old age, her health, her grandson’s health and her state of poverty. "Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles†¦" (paragraph 2). This quotation was one of many indications of Phoenix Jackson’s old age. Normally, in society there are benefits for the elderly and those of the golden age. There are various organizations that help people who are over the age of sixty-five. They also provide various services towards them such as meals on wheels. Was there not someone who could have delivered the medicine to this woman of nearly 100 years of age? Perhaps Phoenix Jackson was too shy or had too much pride to ask for a service of that nature. The doctors from the medical building knew about the condition of Phoenix’s grandson and did nothing to try and help. This showed the lack of respect that was present in the society. In today’s society, someone of that age commands and deserves the proper respect. The next conflict that plagued her is that of her health. "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her," (paragraph 1). In the preceding quotation, there was one important note that readers should take into consideration... Free Essays on A Worn Path I need a Summary of the Worn Path:A Worn Path by Eudora Welty It was December- a bright frozen day in the early morning. Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag, coming along a path through the pinewoods. Her name was Phoenix Jackson. 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. She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her. This made a grave and persistent noise in the still air that seemed meditative, like the chirping of a solitary little bird. She wore a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes. She looked straight ahead. Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the dark. Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper. ...