A Worn Path
In the short story "A Worn Path" written by Eudora Welty, she talks about a journey that an old, under-educated, African American women named Phoenix Jackson takes. This old woman lived in the back woods of Natchez Trace. She had to walk ever so far, to a little town to get her grandson medicine. During this journey she encounters different hurdles that would be easy for a younger person to accomplish. In this short story, Phoenix's thoughts are written down in a manner as a child was speaking, which is somewhat confusing and hard to understand.
In the first few paragraphs of the short store Welty describes Phoenix. Welty writes "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her, this made a grave and persistent noise in the still air, that seemed meditative like a chirping of a solitary little bird."
Gravestone of famous author Eudora Welty
English: I took photo of Eudora Welty at National ...
English: Eudora Welty House; Jackson, Mississippi;...(Page 525) Welty also describes, " Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and ass 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 illuminated be a yellow burning under the dark." (Page 525) In these descriptions, Welty describes Phoenix as an actual Phoenix bird.
The First few steps in this journey, Phoenix says "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons, and wild animals!... Keep out from under my feet, little bob whites... Keep big wild hogs out of my path". (Page 525) old Phoenix is referring that the little bob-whites was a form of good luck and that the bob-whites will keep everything out of her path. Next in the journey,