A worn path study guide. A Worn Path Mass Studyguide Flashcards 2022-10-22
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"A Worn Path" is a short story written by Eudora Welty in 1941. The story follows an elderly African American woman as she makes a journey through the woods to a doctor's office to retrieve medicine for her sick grandson. Along the way, she encounters a white man who tries to stop her, but she persists in her mission.
The story has been widely anthologized and studied due to its themes of love, determination, and racial inequality. Here is a study guide for "A Worn Path":
The setting of "A Worn Path" is significant in terms of the story's themes. The journey through the woods can be seen as a metaphor for the struggles and challenges that the protagonist, the elderly woman, faces in her life. The path itself is worn, indicating the many times she has made the journey before, and the obstacles she has overcome.
The relationship between the elderly woman and her grandson is central to the story. The love and devotion the woman has for her grandson drives her to make the journey, even though it is difficult and dangerous. This love is demonstrated through the woman's actions, as she willingly sacrifices her own well-being for the sake of her grandson.
The encounter with the white man serves as a reminder of the racial inequalities present in the time period in which the story is set. The man attempts to stop the woman from continuing on her journey, using his race as a means of exerting power over her. However, the woman persists in her mission, demonstrating her strength and determination.
The theme of determination is also evident in the woman's perseverance in the face of obstacles. Despite the difficulties she faces, she remains steadfast in her mission to retrieve the medicine for her grandson. This determination is ultimately what allows her to succeed in her task.
"A Worn Path" also touches upon themes of love and sacrifice. The elderly woman's love for her grandson motivates her to make the journey and endure the challenges she faces. This love is also demonstrated through her willingness to sacrifice her own well-being for the sake of her grandson.
In conclusion, "A Worn Path" is a poignant and moving story that touches upon themes of love, determination, and racial inequality. Through the journey of the elderly woman, the story showcases the strength and resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
A Worn Path Mass Studyguide Flashcards
She has every reason to believe she is being haunted by a man dancing in a dead field where he might have been killed. Setting generally comprises both time and place. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. It is a brief encounter, but the longest of the story, and it is filled with abrupt changes in tenor and tone that create a sense of unpredictability. Somewhat further on, she must pass through a barbed wire fence, and she is again careful about her dress. That perspective is technically known as limited omniscience. On her way she encounters many obstacles, including thorny bushes, barbed wire, and a large dog, among others.
Is God watching the hunter as he threatens and lies, too? Claxton provides statistics showing that from 1882-1968, 539 black people were lynched, with more deaths probably going unrecorded. Overcoming obstacles requires grit and cunning. Since then, it has been frequently anthologized. Research the history of the Natchez Trace in Mississippi and the surrounding area. Phoenix enters a building and goes up to a woman seated at a desk, who assumes that Phoenix is another charity case. Phoenix Jackson is traveling to the city from her home in Natchez Trace, outside the city, to retrieve medicine for her grandson.
It is Old Phoenix's love for her grandson that causes her to face the trial of the journey to town, every time it is necessary, with no questions asked. The hunter claims that he would give her money if he had any with him, and tells her again to stay home so that nothing happens to her. There sat a buzzard. Then, with a nod, she leaves. Your only guide, too, is your sureness about your subject, about what this subject is.
Symbol: Chains When Phoenix says it seems as if there are chains on her feet as the path moves uphill, such chains symbolize slavery, the condition most African Americans perhaps even Phoenix herself were in during the antebellum period. A white man—a hunter—helps her from the spill she took into the ditch. Seeing a buzzard, she asks it aloud what it is watching, and is glad that God made it so that snakes and other dangerous creatures are not out at this time of year. Welty takes the reader into the mind of her powerfully conceived central figure, Phoenix, in a way that allows the reader to fully inhabit the mind of this person at certain time and place, but what is real and what is only imagined commingle. She goes so far as to reach for the cake and must, with effort, shake herself free from the revery and reset her sights on the task at hand. For this reason, more medicine is required.
A Worn Path “A Worn Path” Summary and Analysis
Patiently and with frustrated effort, Phoenix untangles her dress from the thorny bush without tearing it. In terms of the year, the story would seem to be set in the Depression era, likely sometime during the 1930s, as Phoenix and her grandson are referred to as a "charity case" by the nurses at the doctor's office she visits. His last words are warning her to go back home and stay out of harm, but she is determined to fulfill her mission. However, she quickly grows impatient when Phoenix begins to talk about how much she loves her grandson. A nurse appears, who recognizes Phoenix and informs the attendant that she is there to get medicine for her grandson who swallowed lye a few years earlier. She is insensitive to the touching moment and becomes brusque and bureaucratic.
He lifts Phoenix out of the ditch where she is stranded from the dog who rushed her, though he laughs as he does it. Welty specifically identifies his race and almost immediately, though the young man helps her out of the ditch, there is a palpable sense of tension. A white hunter, a young man, soon comes along, with a dog on a chain. Both the nurse and the attendant just see her as a check mark, as charity. Her name is Phoenix Jackson. His kindness turns to menace without warning.
She reaches inside the scarecrow and finds the coat empty. The story describes a journey by an elderly black woman named Phoenix Jackson, who must walk a long way into Natchez from her home in rural Mississippi to retrieve medicine for her grandson. However, the description of her eyes being blue with age suggests that vision problems contribute to the difficulty of her trip. She makes it over a log, through a maze, and through a swamp. The trials and obstacles of the journey, which Phoenix recognizes as such, reflect the sometimes random and unfair travails of her life. . Though still laughing, he points the gun directly at Phoenix and asks her if the gun scares her.
In December a very old black woman walks slowly through a pine forest. Phoenix thinks, understandably, that as the road itself gets easier the journey will be easier, but as it turns out as she moves deeper into the more populated areas of Mississippi things get more difficult. At the end of the story Phoenix procures life-giving medicine and saves her grandson; she is often seen as Moses, who paved the way for Christ. When Phoenix steps into the clearing after crawling on her hands and knees through the barbed wire, the dead trees look to her like Black men with one arm. Next comes a ravine where she stops to take a sip of water from a spring. His disbelief that she would walk as far as he can demeans her based on her age. The scarecrow is tall, black and skinny and combined with the idea of mistaking it for a man, the symbolic intention is more than evident.
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