A Worn Path Theme Essay
Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path: Conveying the Theme of Sacrificial Love How much does a grandmother love her grandson? It is difficult to show more love than Phoenix Jackson did in Eudora Welty’s short story A Worn Path. Jackson is an old and poor grandmother whose senses are beginning to fail her, but she goes through seemingly unbearable trials in order to get to town and pick up her grandson’s medicine that will keep him alive. In this heartwarming story, Welty uses symbolism and various conflicts to create the theme of sacrificial love. In A Worn Path, Welty uses symbolism to illustrate her theme by giving the protagonist the name Phoenix. A phoenix is often used as a symbol of death and resurrection from the ashes ("Ancient Symbolism of …show more content…
Because she is an elderly African-American in Mississippi of the early 1900s, it is extremely likely that Jackson lived through the days of slavery and it is indisputable that she is living during the Jim Crow era of segregation. These circumstances mean that Jackson is looked down upon because of her race, despite how determined and courageous she really is. People disrespect Phoenix by referring to her as “granny” multiple times. A hunter also tells her that old colored people “wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus” (59). Later on, the young white hunter points a gun to her face and asks if it scares her, but she says that she saw plenty of guns go off in front of her. Jackson is willing to go through these conflicts in order to get to Natchez and achieve her goal. In conclusion, Eudora Welty did a good job showing the sacrificial love of a grandmother in A Worn Path. She gave her protagonist a name that symbolizes death and rebirth, and she also created difficult conflicts that accurately shows the endless parameters of Phoenix Jackson’s sacrificial love. It is our job to show this kind of sacrificial love toward others. We should strive for the love Phoenix Jackson has and sacrifice like she did for our loved
Intergenerational Trauma In The Break
1083 Words | 5 PagesThis exemplifies how intergenerational trauma has left victims desiring to be loved. Phoenix leaves the St. Vital Center and makes her way across town to her uncle's house. Phoenix decides to walk in the cold for hours until she has "lost feeling in her legs" (Vermette 25), all to impress her uncle. Phoenix’s decision to walk to her uncle’s house instead of asking for help continues to reveal to the reader how Phoenix has adopted a mindset of not showing weakness by asking for help, all while trying to gain admiration from her uncle. Additionally, as soon as she arrives at her uncle's house, she begins to plan ways to make her uncle happy.
Phoenix Jackson Archetypes
1718 Words | 7 PagesThe death and rebirth archetype comes back in to play when Phoenix descends. The death aspect is her dealing with the absence of her grandson, but being reborn ready to face a new life without him having reached acceptance. The journey was not about her grandson but about Phoenix reaching her deeper self. The death of her grandson, changes the interpretation of the story. Even though her grandson is dead, Jackson makes the journey every year to get his medicine in order to honor him and not forget.
Everyday Use By Eudora Welty Compare And Contrast
485 Words | 2 PagesEveryday Use by Alice Walker and Eudora Welty in A Worn Path are two short stories that share many similarities. One similarity between the two stories that caught my attention was protection and love. Both women take care of a child that went through an incident. In the story Everyday Use by Alice Walker, Mama is a poor African American woman who is considered to be very strong and manly.
Three Artistic Tools Used In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path
488 Words | 2 PagesIn the short story Welty’s want the reader to be comfortable with Phoenix as a character. Welty describes Phoenix wearing a long dress reaching her shoe top and a long apron of bleached sugar sacks. When Phoenix talks aloud to herself the author wants the reader to imagine an old woman with characteristics of a warm, comical, young spirited woman side of her. The short story also uses images which evoke from the biblical imagery. Phoenix’s uses biblical connection to show the reader how important her story and the
Irresponsibility In The Glass Castle
758 Words | 4 PagesThe memoir, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, centers around her unorthodox childhood, with her parents avoiding parental responsibilities and acting in accordance to their non-conformist beliefs. During some events in the book, responsibility is seen as equal to self-sufficiency in this book, and Rex and Rose Mary encourages Jeannette and the other children to look out for themselves instead of depending on others. Even though Jeannette’s parents were irresponsible and reckless, they managed to instill responsible, independent, self-sufficient qualities within Jeannette, creating a well-adjusted child. Hardships as a child allow the opportunity to develop a thick skin and become resilient. From a young age, Jeannette Walls and her siblings learned how to be independent for their basic needs because of their father’s, Rex, alcoholism, and their mother, Rose Mary’s, carefree attitude and indulgence in the arts.
Obstacles In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path
539 Words | 3 PagesPhoenix Jackson is a woman who will not give up, despite the odds. Which leads to her being successful and reaching her purpose, in the
Intergenerational Trauma In The Break By Katherena Vermette
2075 Words | 9 PagesThis serves as an example of how a lack of familial ties can prevent an individual from overcoming intergenerational trauma. The relationship between Phoenix and her mother Elsie is portrayed as distant and estranged. This is exemplified in a scene where Phoenix is going to prison and Elsie attempts to reach out to her, but she rejects the gesture by moving away and refusing to touch her mother. Phoenix also expressed disdain for her mother's weakness, “she does not want to look at her, does not want to see Elsie groveling in her Elsie way, being weak. She does not want to feel sorry for her, or feel anything for her” (Vermette 323).
Pheonix Jackson's Dementia In A Worn Path
328 Words | 2 PagesPheonix Jackson’s grandson is dead because she shows signs of dementia, she hesitates when asked about how the boy is doing, and she says words that imply the boy isn’t changing. The story “ A Worn Path” follows the difficult trip routinely made by Pheonix on foot to a nearby town for her grandson’s medicine which he needs for his swollen throat. Pheonix shows signs of dementia which would affect her perception of reality and her grandson being alive or dead. In the line, “At first she took it as a man,” referring to her encountering a scarecrow, Pheonix shows that her senses are inadequate enough to believe a scarecrow is a man dancing in a field (762). Pheonix is more reliant on her body remembering the trail than her sense of sight
Literary Elements In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path
526 Words | 3 PagesShe exemplifies Christ along her journey when she stops under a mistletoe tree; the same type of tree in which the cross was made. The thorns she encounters also relate to Christ’s death on the cross, the crown of thorns he wears on his head. The journey she takes to get her grandson’s medicine, is considered to be an example of self-sacrifice. Phoenix gives others the opportunity to help her and accomplish good things. One example is when the hunter helps her out of the ditch.
A Literary Analysis Of Eudora Welty's A Worn Path
678 Words | 3 PagesGiven her grandson’s injuries that hope is as fragile as the paper windmill. This reminds us that hope is fragile, and is contingent on historical and civil efforts beyond Phoenix and her grandson. Phoenix Jackson perseveres to achieve a purposeful goal. Phoenix Jackson stayed true to her faith in times of desperation. Against the obstacles, she was willing to reach her destination to provide her grandson with the medicine he is in need of.
Freedom In Eudora Welty's A Worn Path
810 Words | 4 PagesPhoenix’s endurance on the journey is portrayed by this change, which helps to reveal the
Racism In A Worn Path
883 Words | 4 PagesSome references even suggest Phoenix may have once been a slave; such as the chains the old woman feels on her feet as she climbs the path uphill. Racial inequality is unmistakably clear when the old woman falls in the ditch and is confronted by the white hunter. One would believe the hunter calling Phoenix Granny to be a harmless reference to her age; however, Granny is a term coined by southern whites in the thirties and forties and refers to a single elderly black woman: a granny is an old black woman who takes care of the white
A Worn Path Phoenix Jackson Character Analysis
738 Words | 3 PagesPhoenix is doing this out of her selfless and kind heart for her loved ones. If she never cared and was selfish then she would never be making these difficult journeys and wasting her time for someone
Two Narrative Perspectives In Toni Morrison's Beloved
843 Words | 4 PagesToni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved is a multiply narrated story of having to come to terms with the past to be able to move forward. Set after the Civil War in 1870s, the novel centers on the experiences of the family of Baby Suggs, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D and on how they try to confront their past with the arrival of Beloved. Two narrative perspectives are main, that of the third-person omniscient and of the third person limited, and there is also a perspective of the first-person. The novel’s narrators shift constantly and most of the times without notifying at all, and these narratives of limited perspectives of different characters help us understand the interiority, the sufferings and memories, of several different characters better and in their diversity.
Phoenix Jackson Obstacles
507 Words | 3 PagesWe see love in Phoenix Jackson by how she takes the long journey to get medicine for her grandson. In the story Eudora Welty enhances the unbeatable love Phoenix Jackson has for her grandson through drawbacks she faces, her health along with age, and taking the journey. Throughout the course of her journey she forgets her purpose, in her heart firm love she has for her grandson always lead her back on her path. Phoenix Jackson faces many obstacles on her journey but, none of them distract her from reaching the medical building for her grandsons sake. The hunter insisted “ Now you go on home, Granny!”
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