On her journey, phoenix encounters a hunter who points a gun at her. She traverses different kinds of terrainhills, forests, swamps, and fieldsthat test the strength and endurance of her old body. Students often asked welty about the story, and their question was always the same. A worn path by eudora welty is a short story about an elderly africanamerican woman who undertakes a familiar journey on a road in a rural area to acquire medicine for her grandson. The primary symbol in eudora weltys short story a worn path is, in fact, a path. Eudora weltys rules for writing the pulitzerwinning southern writer, a master of the short story, would have been 107 years old today. Old phoenix jackson walks this path often as she goes to town to get medicine for her grandson, and. It has been nearly forty years since old phoenix jackson, under a bright still december sky, trod eudora weltys. Her skirt gets tangled on thorns and she crosses a log over a river with her eyes closed. Set during the christmas season, phoenix jackson, an elderly. Eudora welty writes a worn path with a sense of symbolism that captures the struggles and pleasures of life.
She followed the track, swaying through the quiet bare fields, through the little strings of trees silver in their deadleaves. A worn path summary from litcharts the creators of. She knows the way by heart, having made the trip many times to buy medicine for her grandson. She follows a worn, rugged path from the country to the city. Up above her was a tree in a pearly cloud of mistletoe. Eudora welty receives a creative arts award from brandeis university.
I was getting along fine with mama, papa daddy and uncle rondo until my sister stella rondo just. Eudora welty portrays phoenix jackson as the hero and portrays all of the stages, even though we were made aware of the call and threshold after the transformation. Of all the ingenious stories written by eudora welty over the past half century, it is perhaps a worn path that is most intriguing in terms of its ability to defy. Phoenix jackson walks to the city on a worn, rugged path to buy medicine. Welty uses symbolism as a bridge to connect the reader to their own inner battles and give a worn path a deeper meaning than that of an old lady walking through the woods. A worn path on a cold december day, an elderly woman named phoenix jackson makes her way along a remote path, narrating the journey to herself as she goes. Pdf addressing ageism through eudora weltys a worn path. A worn path a very old and frail black woman named phoenix jackson makes a long and difficult journey on a path from the country into the town. She carries a cane and switches it at imagined animals in the bushes. It was decembera bright frozen day in the early morning. Monomyth and the pattern of human existence the short story a worn path by eudora welty demonstrates the archetypal heros journey.
Phoenix jackson walks all the way from her home in the country to a medical clinic in natchez. Welty was the author of nearly 20 books, a skilled. 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. It tells a story of sheer determination as phoenix jackson makes a long journey into town to get medicine for her chronically ill grandson. Eudora weltys short story a worn path, sits down on the banks of the creek for a rest. A very old and frail black woman named phoenix jackson makes a long and difficult journey on a path from the country into the town. Pdf on feb 27, 2014, regina dilgen and others published addressing ageism through eudora weltys a worn path find, read and cite all the research you. A worn path eudora welty published in the atlantic monthly in 1941, this storylike robert penn warren s christmas giftdescribes a heroic journey in which the protagonist travels to town to help a family member.