Eudora Welty A Worn Path Analysis

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“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, is a humble story about an old women and her challenging journey to the clinic. Phoenix Jackson is an old woman who lives in the country side of Natchez. She is a woman that obviously loves and cares for her grandson; she loves him so much, that even in her old age she makes that difficult journey to the clinic on a regular basis. The journey has become a routine commute for Phoenix. On this day in December, she walks in frigid temperatures, down a path with thorn bushes, bob wired fences and creeks. Apparently these are not all of Phoenix’s challenges she will encounter while on her journey. The additional challenges are the mental challenge of controlling her thoughts, dreams and visions; the challenge of …show more content…
Isaacs, Literature Resource Center, “The story concerns the struggle to achieve a goal, the completion of the journey: … (Welty, 1941) (Isaacs, 1998)”. “It was December a bright frozen day in the early morning” (Welty, 1). It was freezing outside and she have to prepare herself for the long journey. Phoenix is old in age; she is so old that she herself has forgotten her own age. However, Phoenix does not let her age are cold weather stop her from the journey. She proceeds on her way, she talks to herself and the wild animals, all the while she’s hoping the wild animals will not come out and hinder her mission. “Don’t let none of those come running my direction/I got a long way” (Welty, 1). She reflects on hibernation season for snakes and alligators, which gives her mind a bit of comfort. Phoenix has grown tired; she stops to take a break and dozes off into a dream. She was dreaming about a boy bringing her a slice of marble-cake. “But when she went to take it there was just her own hand in the air” (Welty, 3). Her idea was just to take a break not to fall asleep, however, she had to snap out of the mental encounters she was stumble upon or she would not complete her journey, but not before her mind played another trick on her. As she came through the maze where the path was no longer visible, there was a vision of a man figure off in the distance. She could not make out what it was; it appeared to be man dancing in the wind. …show more content…
The challenge she faces on her visit to the clinic is one that would take great humility on her part. She goes through the humiliation and degradation for the love of her grandson. Good old Phoenix is illiterate and cannot read. She relies solely on memory, feet and eyesight to get her from place to place. If it was not for the picture on the building, she would not know where to go to get what her grandson needs. Upon entering the building, “A charity case, I suppose”, says the front desk worker. She addressed Phoenix with such impudence and condescending tones, that Phoenix appeared to be ignoring her snarky remarks. However, Phoenix had a memory lapse briefly and forgot her reason for going to the clinic. It took some prying of a nurse who was familiar with Phoenix and her reason for being there. “At last there came a flicker and then a flame of comprehension across her face, and she spoke” (Welty, 7). Her efforts of getting there were strong that she almost lost sight of its end. Even though she had a memory lapse, she tried to stay focused even though she became quite the chatter box once she regained her memory. The nurse was generous because it was around Christmas time, the nurse offered her a few pennies and she denies and asks for a nickel. The nurse gave her a nickel. “She lifted her free hand, gave a little nod, turned around, and walked out of the doctor’s