An Analysis of the Short Story A Worn Path
Montaque 1
English 1102
Ms. Parks
18 February 2014
A Worn Path Eudora Welty's short story "A Worn Path" takes place on an early December morning which deals with a very elderly and frail black woman, Phoenix; and the hardships inherent in her life. Phoenix Jackson is the main character, she is characterized as a strong poor elderly woman because of her appearance, personality and determination. For example, the narrator states, that Phoenix wore “a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes " (475). The dark striped dress and long apron made of sugar sacks symbolizes poverty because of her hardships in life; this is the type of clothing most Negro women slaves wore back in the slavery days. The darkness of her dress represents her state of depression. The stripes on her dress symbolizes the prison bars showing she was held captive as a slave for some time. The unlaced dirty shoes also shows her poverty as it represents her needing a new pair of clean laced shoes to wear along her journey. Although her attire showed her poverty she always
Montaque 2 kept herself neat and tidy. The narrator also states “Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper” (475). The red color rag wrapped around her head symbolically represents her powerful strength to succeed along the path. The physical appearance of a phoenix bird, is said to have bright red and gold feathers. The bright red of the phoenix is one of many symbolic features that can be compared to Phoenix’s description because of her red rag around her head. The copper smell of her hair brings more realism of her old age. Although she is old, she has extremely dark hair and has much life within her. Along the
English 1102
Ms. Parks
18 February 2014
A Worn Path Eudora Welty's short story "A Worn Path" takes place on an early December morning which deals with a very elderly and frail black woman, Phoenix; and the hardships inherent in her life. Phoenix Jackson is the main character, she is characterized as a strong poor elderly woman because of her appearance, personality and determination. For example, the narrator states, that Phoenix wore “a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes " (475). The dark striped dress and long apron made of sugar sacks symbolizes poverty because of her hardships in life; this is the type of clothing most Negro women slaves wore back in the slavery days. The darkness of her dress represents her state of depression. The stripes on her dress symbolizes the prison bars showing she was held captive as a slave for some time. The unlaced dirty shoes also shows her poverty as it represents her needing a new pair of clean laced shoes to wear along her journey. Although her attire showed her poverty she always
Montaque 2 kept herself neat and tidy. The narrator also states “Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper” (475). The red color rag wrapped around her head symbolically represents her powerful strength to succeed along the path. The physical appearance of a phoenix bird, is said to have bright red and gold feathers. The bright red of the phoenix is one of many symbolic features that can be compared to Phoenix’s description because of her red rag around her head. The copper smell of her hair brings more realism of her old age. Although she is old, she has extremely dark hair and has much life within her. Along the