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Literary Analysis - "A Worn Path" Eudora Welty

Introduction

Some stories are simply meant to take the readers on a thought-provoking journey, and while they do not contribute towards a definite plan or pot, they say it all. Such is a story of an old African-American woman Phoenix. The story is named “A Worn Path”, written by Eudora Welty. This story tells us of the heartbreaking venture when Phoenix takes a walk and comes across many things and observations while covering her journey. Despite the cold weather that Phoenix comes across, she did not falter or abandon her voyage and rather continued to move forth. Throughout the story we observe the racism African-Americans endured during the Civil Rights' movement, and the duties and responsibilities of an elderly woman (Wilson, p. 68-72). Usually located in her home state, most of her stories and novels are stories about eccentric characters and sometimes even grotesque, to whom the author describes with humor and sympathy. This particular story alos has similar features that addresses the author's mind-set in a professional and beautiful manner, while touching the reader's psyche and emotions too.

Many of the customs of the region, from the speech to the mentality of its people are beautifully woven in Welty's stories. Her first text, which came to light, first appeared in The New Yorker. Much later, in 1980, she published a compilation of some of her short stories. Among his novels that may be mentioned, A wedding in the Delta (1946), The heart of Ponder (1954) and Battles Lost (1970). Optimist's Daughter (1973), the story of a woman returns to her childhood South , won a Pulitzer Prize. His essays of literary criticism and book reviews published in a collection bearing the title of the story The Eye (1979), while a writer's beginnings (1984) is her autobiography.

The writer assesses the storyline very well, depicting many worthwhile observations while she took her journey along the town. The title “a worn path” derives its name from the fact that Phoenix crosses the same path “over and over again” and had come down on the same path many times before that is why the path seems to her as a “worn or travelled” path (Welty, p. 176). She can cross the creek with closed eyes; and that confirms the title's message.

On her way she meets many deterrents, like a dog, hard brush, and a hunter who threatened with a gun, among many other things. Her reason for going in Natchez is to take a supply of medicine for her grandson, who accidentally swallowed something a few years earlier. The injury never fully heals the throat, and sometimes the throat begins to swell shut. Old Phoenix loves her dear nephew, and it is he for whom she faces the test of the trip to town, whenever necessary (Votteler, p. 60). At its heart, the story is a tale of undying love and devotion towards one's inmates, for them one is ready to suffer anything.

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