Nurul Syahirah Binti Nazarudin

951005-12-5122

A WORN PATH
Eudora Welty's short story A Worn Path is an interesting work, full of symbolism. It
explores a number of themes through the simple story of an elderly black woman in 1940s
Mississippi, walking along an arduous path to town to collect medicine for her grandson.
Along the way she encounters various obstacles and interactions with others.
The theme in this novel is love. Though quite old and suffering from infirmities,
Phoenix Jackson regularly walks a long distance to obtain medicine for her grandchild. Even
in cold weather, when the frozen earth is slippery, she makes the trip. Her journey, the worn
path she follows to demonstrates her love for the child. In our daily life, we must struggle for
the peoples that we love such as our family and friends because the love towards them
make us stronger each day. Next is perseverance. Phoenix Jackson's walk to Natchez
demonstrates her will to persevere in a sometimes hostile world. On her way to Natchez, she
must endure the cold, keep her footing on frozen ground, crawl under a barbed-wire fence,
walk through the maze of a cornfield, and watch out for dangerous animals such as wild
hogs. An unfriendly dog threatens her and she falls into a ditch. But her occasional journey
to Natchez is only a small part of her story. In our society today, some of the old peoples
must deal with poverty and the pains of old age, care for a child with a scarred throat, and
confront the evil of racial prejudice.
The protagonist of the story is Phoenix Jackson, who lives alone with her sick
grandson. Eudora Welty uses the protagonist to show strength and determination in the face
of hardship. She has many obstacles in her way but she does not flinch in the face of these
potentially dangerous situations because of her love and dedication to her sick grandson.
The regenerative qualities of the bird are seen in Phoenix's determination. Each time she
suffers a setback, she keeps going. The walk she continually takes on the worn path is her
rebirth, in essence. In our life, there will be so many obstacles and we must strive, like
Phoenix Jackson did in order to take care of her grandson. It teaches us to keep moving
forward no matter how hard the life can be. Sometimes it is hard and we feel like we want to
give up. But we must remember that there will be always a silver lining in clouds and this life
will keep moving on. We cant give up because of only some small matters ruining our days.
The next character is the hunter. The hunter encounters Phoenix after she has fallen
into a ditch, the unfortunate result of an encounter with one of his dogs. He helps her up,
demonstrating his willingness to assist a person in need. But his subsequent conversation
with her reveals his disrespect for her and biased attitudes towards African Americans in
general. In our life, we should help people sincerely no matter what race or religion they are.

Nurul Syahirah Binti Nazarudin

951005-12-5122
The act of disrespect towards older people shown in the Hunter when he points a gun at her
face and asks if it scares her. He is amused by the fact that it does not, further emphasizing
his insensitivity. As we can see, youngsters these days have no sense of respects towards
the elder. In fact, they being so rude until the elders lost their respect towards the youngsters
too. This shouldnt happen in our society since we live in a much better era than Phoenix.
But instead of thinking about the peacefulness that we enjoy every day, the societies begin
to change again and the world seems to turn upside down. Parents should teach their
children since they are still young on how to respect not only elders, but among themselves
as well.
Setting is crucial to the purpose of this story because Welty conceived the idea for
the tale of Phoenix Jackson as she sat with a painter friend out on the Old Natchez Trace.
The Trace is an old highway that runs from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi.
By 1800 it was the busiest in the American South. Phoenix lives "away back off the Old
Natchez Trace,'' as the nurse in the doctor's office says. This indicates that Phoenix lives
fairly far from Natchez, which means that the journey compounded by the fact that it is
Decemberis difficult for her. In the rural area, she encounters animals, thorny bushes, and
ditches, streams to be crossed by logs, barbedwire fences, and even people. Time is also
important in the story: Phoenix says that she was "too old at the Surrender" to go to school.
If the story takes place in the time it was written, 1941, Phoenix would be anywhere from 80
to 100 years old. This further magnifies the intensity of her journey and the tragic situation of
her grandson's dependence on her.
Throughout the story there are many references to race and racism. Phoenixs
thoughts and comments on the way to town, the hunter she happens upon, and her visit to
the medical building all demonstrate that racism is an integral part of this story, and indeed a
part of her time. The world that Phoenix lives in is a much different world than the one of we
live today where equality is important. In her time, race was a very deciding factor on social
hierarchy. However, right now we live in a world where the biases and injustice are not as
critical as the past world. We are supposed to respect each other and love each other in
order to make this world a warmer place.