The Hero In Joseph Campbell's A Worn Path

A hero can be someone in your life that makes a difference that impacts your life or someone who is selfless. In “A Worn Path.” one of Phoenix’s good characteristic can be she is heroic. “ “Well I scared him off that time,” he said and then laughed and lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix” When she was up against the hunter and he pointed his gun at her she was never afraid of it. She didn’t back down because she had a job she needed to get done and she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything in her way.

It is like a path. Phoenix’s path represents her life as an older woman with her life difficulties getting for her age. In the story, Phoenix has time to appreciate the beauty of the day and gives to herself some rest, but also she fights with her mind and her physical decadences that did not help her to finish her path. “Finally, trembling all over, she stood free, and after a moment dared to stoop for her cane. “Sun so high!"

Throughout the story, it is made clear that Phoenix has poor eyesight and can be described as senile which we see in her personal description of mirages and misidentification of objects during her journey into town. Because of the third person narrative, the reader is given insight into the actual occurrences of the story as opposed to the story Phoenix herself might have told. When Phoenix stumbles upon a scarecrow she exclaims “Ghost… who be you the ghost of” (Welty 3). Because of the readers knowledge as to what the true nature of this “ghost” is, it is clear that Phoenix herself has difficulties discerning the reality from the illusion. If “A Worn Path” were to be told from a first person point of view, through the eyes and mind of Phoenix herself, the reader would be witnessing a story told by the epitome of an unreliable narrator.

The excerpt begins by stating, “It was December—a bright frozen day in the early morning.” This shows that Phoenix’s journey is not an easy one; it’s cold outside and early in the morning. Phoenix continues on the path up a hill. While she is walking along the path, she thinks, “There is chains about my feet, time I get this far.” These chains immediately portray thoughts of slavery, which would cause one to think of endurance.

Something always take a hold of me on this hill, pleads I should stay” Phoenix said as she walks up the hill (pg. 161). Phoenix turn and gave a severe look behind her when she got to the top of the hill looking at where she had come. Walking down the hill, a bush caught her dress just before she got to the bottom and her

Phoenix said, “Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far” (Welty 464). This was the first occurrence were Eudora shows the strong desire that Phoenix has to persevere.

In 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

Some 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

While Phoenix is on her way, her dress unfortunately gets caught in a bush. This complicates what she is going through, especially since she has so much trouble with making sure that her dress does not tear. Additionally, the narrator says, “So she left that tree, and had to go through a barbed-wire fence. There she had to

The Phoenix is a mythological creature that lives for five centuries

She 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 Worn Path begins in a descriptive analysis of old woman Phoenix Jackson. The surrounding setting, nature sounds and details of Phoenix are described in great detail to portray the struggles an elderly

She gets caught in a thorn bush, and when she finally frees her clothes from the thorns, she is "trembling all over." The struggle of the grueling journey is demonstrated as she mounts a log "and shut her eyes" in order to cross a creek. She also has to "creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps” under a barbed-wire fence. As Phoenix departs from the hilly path, she thinks about the approaching area telling herself, "This is the easy place. This is the easy going."

The recurring doubt that pervades the story due to Old Phoenix's questionable sanity demonstrates and is the result of the themes of uncertainty and bewilderment in the short

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