A Worn Path Essay, Research Paper

The story ?A Worn Path,? by Eudora Welty, tells the

journey on foot of an elderly black women, Phoenix

Jackson, from her home to the nearest town. She makes

the journey to go to the doctor to get medicine for

her sick grandson. On the trip, she runs into some

trouble here and there with her dress getting caught

in the underbrush and old age getting to her. She

encounters a big dog that knocks her over, but is soon

rescued by a passing hunter. As she gets to town,

Phoenix asks a woman to her to help her tie her shoes

then, proceeds to the doctor?s office. When she

arrives there, her memory fails her and she forgets

what her long trip was for. The light comes on and

she remembers her grandson?s medicine. She gets the

medicine and the money the nurse gives her, goes and

buys a gift for her grandson and sets off for home. In

this story, old age and class alienate Phoenix from

society.

Old age alienates Phoenix from a hunter she

encounters on the trail. Age alienates Phoenix from

the hunter when he assumes her age enables her to

continue her trip to town. The hunter states, ?Why,

that?s too far! That?s as far as I walk when I come

out myself and I get something for my trouble… Now

you go home, Granny!? (Welty, 215) By saying the trip

is too far, the hunter shows he does not believe

Phoenix can make it to town due her elderly age. When

he says ?… and I get something for my trouble?

(Welty, 215), the hunter infers that he feels Phoenix

has no business being out there making the long trip,

and there is no reason good enough for her to be

venturing that far. The hunter alienates Phoenix

because her age by telling her the trip is too far and

calling her Granny.

Class alienates Phoenix Jackson from the attendants

in the doctor?s office. As Phoenix walks in the door

one attendant says, ?A charity case, I suppose?

(Welty, 216). Based on appearance alone, the

attendant makes the assumption that she was a charity

case. ?A poignant scene at the story?s close confirms

the reader?s suspicion of Phoenix?s extreme

poverty…? (Magill, 2432). This scene proves to the

reader Phoenix is not very high class. She is

automatically assumed to be a charity case and then

asked what was wrong with her, implying she does not

look very good. Aldridge writes, ?[In Welty?s

stories] [t]here are members of racial minorities, the

economically oppressed, shut-ins, and various

individuals in the grip of social forces… In the

beautiful story, ŒA Worn Path,? the nurse at the

clinic becomes aware of a barrier … of which she is

unable to explain, between herself and Grandma, an old

Negro woman?(507). This barrier between them is a

social barrier that alienates Phoenix from the

attendants. Phoenix being from a lower class

alienates her from the attendants.

Age and class alienate Phoenix from herself. The

trip through the woods was not an easy task for

Phoenix. Phoenix says, ?Seems like there is chains

about my feet, time I get this far? (Welty, 213). She

has a hard time making this trip due to her age.

Magill writes, ?The frail old woman, called Phoenix,

travels slowly and painfully through a sometimes

hostile landscape…? (2432) Phoenix?s age prohibits

her from easily making her journey that is so dear to

her through the woods. The trip makes her so tired

she forgets the point of the whole trip. As she gets

to the doctor?s office a ?fixed and ceremonial

stiffness? came over her body (Welty, 216). Finally

the light flickers on and Phoenix remembers why she

made the journey into town. Her memory is slowly

fading with her age. Class and age alienate Phoenix

from herself.

In Phoenix?s encounter with the hunter, trip into the

woods and to the doctor?s office, and memory loss ,

age and class alienate her from society.

Bibliography

Aldridge, John W. Critiques and Essays on Modern

Fiction 1920-1951. New York:The Ronald Press Company,

1952.

Magill, Frank N. ?Eudora Welty.? Critical Survey of

Short Story Fiction. California: Salem Press, 1993,

2430-2439.

Welty, Eudora. ?A Worn Path.? Literature for

Composition. 5th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet et al. New

York: Longman, 2000