A worn path

“A Worn Path”

The Story

After seeing an elderly African American woman striding across the landscape with a strong sense of purpose, Eudora Welty wrote a story exploring the possible motive for this intense journey. “A Worn Path” is that story. Students often asked Welty about the story, and their question was always the same: “Is Phoenix Jackson’s grandson really dead?” Welty took that question as the title for an essay interpreting the story, and she declared that she had always thought of the boy as still alive. Then she added, “The grandson’s plight was real and it made the truth of the story, which is the story of an errand of love carried out. If the child no longer lived, the truth would persist in the ‘wornness’ of the path. But his being dead can’t increase the truth of the story, can’t affect it one way or the other.”

1.In the opening sentence of “A Worn Path,” the narrator describes Phoenix

Jackson as “an old Negro woman.” Later the hunter calls her “Granny,” and the

nurse refers to her as “Aunt Phoenix.” Was the term “Negro” an accepted term of respect in 1941? Are the references to Phoenix as “Granny” and “Aunt” disparaging in any way.

No, negro was not accepted. The terms Granny and Aunt are not nice.

2.Phoenix Jackson lives in the Mississippi countryside near the old Natchez Trace. She knows the world of nature and feels at home in it. The town of Natchez, however, has Christmas lights turned on in the daytime, and the lady who ties Phoenix’s shoe wears perfume that smells like “the red roses in hot summer.” Does Welty contrast the natural wisdom of Phoenix with the artifice of the town?

Yes, Phoenix lives by nature and basically does nothing in an artificial way. Therefore, the fake lights and smells contrast her natural essence.

3.What is the significance of the visual imagery regarding color?

The colors are of a rainbow that lead to the gold at the end which is the medicine for the grandson.

4.Why might Welty have chosen the name “Phoenix” for her character?

"Phoenix" is the name of a mythological bird that catches fire and is rebirthed from its own ashes.

5.How old is Phoenix? What does she mean when she says she did not attend

school because she was “too old at the Surrender”?

The civil war was the surrender that did not allow her to go to school. She is in her 80s or 90s.

6.The grandson has swallowed lye, and such a plight was not uncommon. Do you think that the grandson is alive or dead?  Does either scenario make an impact on the plight of Phoenix Jackson?

I think that the grandson is dead. If this is true, it means that although he is not living, Phoenix still makes the long journey to show her everlasting love for her grandson. 

7.Does Welty’s reading of the story enhance your understanding of it? Do the

comments she makes about the story do so as well?

Yes. I also felt bad for her and compassionate. 
8.  Compare/Contrast Phoenix to Atalanta.  What similarities or differences do you see in the two?
They were both underestimated by people throughout their journey.
They are different because Atalanta was easily distracted by the apple where Phoenix was determined.