A Worn Path

“A Worn Path” is a story that emphasizes the natural symbolism of the surroundings. The main character in the story, Phoenix Jackson, is an old black woman who seeks out to find medicine for her sick nephew. This story contains a motive, which is the continuous walking of Phoenix Jackson throughout her journey. She lives in the pinewoods and faces the challenging experience of walking through the snowy, frozen earth to get to the hospital in the city of Natchez. Phoenix Jackson is a very caring person, and is in love with life. Although she is very old, it seems that she has many years ahead of her. Eudora Welty brings realism into the story describing the realities of being old. It is Christmas, and Phoenix Jackson goes out to the city to obtain the medicine for her nephew. A long time ago, her nephew swallowed lye that burned his throat, and the medicine is the only thing that relieves his pain. The woods are filled with pine trees that cast dark shadows throughout the terrain. The darkness that surrounds Phoenix is the total opposite of her. She is a poor woman, but is very neat and tidy. She appreciates the small things in life and respects what she has. Although she is old, she has extremely dark hair, wears a red bandana, and has much “life” within her: Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the bark. It is almost as if she is a part of nature herself, when Eudora Welty describes her as having a tree within her forehead. She is a very lively person, and is willing to go through this obstacle course of vicissitudes of the cold earth: “Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper”. The copper smell of her hair brings more realism of old age. When she stops to sit down under a tree, she dazes off and thinks that a little boy is giving her a piece of marble cake. She then snaps out of her trance and sees only her hand waiving in the air. This shows that very old people hallucinate sometimes, which is completely natural. The name “Phoenix” is the name of an ancient Egyptian bird that regenerates itself after 500 years and lives on for another 500 years. This old woman represents the phoenix, which lives on in her old age. Phoenix Jackson demonstrates her love of life as she talks to all of the animals within the forest: “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animal! Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites. Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don’t let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way”. She realizes she has a long journey ahead of her, but will do whatever it takes to help her nephew. Phoenix Jackson seems to be one with nature and brings peace and harmony to everything living in the forest. However, the forest has the aura of death. For instance, Phoenix spots a buzzard sitting upon an old, dead tree that resembled a black man. The buzzard represents death, but the old women made her way through the furrow and left “death”. She then comes upon a field of dead corn, which stood a scarecrow. The job of the scarecrow is to scare away the black crows, which also symbolize death. Phoenix Jackson dances with the scarecrow, as if they are celebrating the departure of death. She then came upon a spring, and starts to drink from the well. The water in the spring represents longevity, and Phoenix drank it as a sign of her long life. Suddenly, a black dog crept out of a ditch and approached Phoenix with its drooling tongue. Phoenix hit the dog lightly with a stick and it fled. She walked into the ditch where her senses drifted