A Worn Path

Eudora Welty wrote, "A Worn Path" in 1940, around 80 years after the legal abolition of slavery in the US. The story is narrated by a very old woman as she walks on a path, from the rural area where she lived on her way to town. The narrator, Phoenix Jackson, is an African-American woman in the segregated South who may be close to "a hundred years old," as stated by a hunter that encounters her along the path. This fact places her as a child of slaves and a survivor of segregation. The reason for Phoenix going through such a hard trip, for an older woman, is love. She is on her way to get medicine for her grandson, who consumed lye, and as a result, he seems to be bed-bound and in need of constant medication. Phoenix, being a black aged woman in a period of segregation and major socio-economics injustices, did not have the means to provide such medicine on her own. She depended on the charity and mercy of the white population to do so. The story is quite controversial because she has been a victim of oppression, must likely her entire life, but at the same time she is in need of the oppressors assistance for survival. "A Worn Path" is a story of race relations, about the underlying racism that has always existed. But at the same time is about strength, immortality, rebirth, and endurance. Although black endurance could have a negative connotation, it represents that the black community has been proven by fire and survived. There are many symbols in the story. The first and more outstanding of all is her name, Phoenix. According to Greek mythology, Phoenix is a bird that lives around 500 years. It represents long life and eternity. The story relates that the bird makes its nest and set itself on fire, which act is a symbolization of its death. Afterward, the bird revives and flies out of its ashes, which means resurrection. It is possible that Welty meant that blacks are strong enough to rise out of their ashes. In summary, is about how a community has come out triumphant against adversity.

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