Eudora Welty

Words: 785
Pages: 4

Often we underestimate the struggle and hardships that people had to go through when they fought against society’s perspective of “good”. At times in the history of the world, people rallied against sexism, racism, and discrimination against different age groups. One example of the discrimination that took place was the racism against coloured people in post-civil War USA. Coloured people were not considered equal to the “superior race”, and they were discriminated against in prime areas such as health care and public services. Discrimination against age and different genders still occurs today, in our so-called evolved society. Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” illustrates these hardships in the form of an old African-American woman named Phoenix Jackson who undertakes a difficult journey in order to bring medicine for her dying grandson.

Eudora Welty makes no effort in concealing Phoenix Jackson’s extreme age and physical inferiority. Eudora Welty describes Phoenix’s age by stating she has “...numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her
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Phoenix Jackson, the main character in Eudora Welty’s short story clashes against the societal views of her race, age, and gender and completes her hazardous journey. Clashes with animals, barbed-wire fences, and an overly-aggressive hunter prove nothing compared to the willpower of Phoenix Jackson. She is fully aware of the disapproving look of society on her journey and herself, but carries on because of her incomparable compassion and love for her grandson. Eudora Welty provides us with a role model who embodying beliefs such as be yourself, stand up for what you believe in, and don’t conform to societal norms. Phoenix Jackson is someone we can all relate to, an example of an imperfect human, being perfect in her own