Phoenix Jackson And Old Woman example essay topic

In Eudora Welty's story, "A Worn Path", Phoenix Jackson, and old woman, is making a trip to get some medicine for her sick grandson. The reader can easily infer that Phoenix is an elderly lady from the initial paragraph and other references to age throughout the story, but Welty only puts those descriptions and things said by Phoenix so the reader gets to know the character. The fact that she is old is just showing that she is steadfast and strong willed. Phoenix is running into obstacles and showing determination throughout the whole story and through this she is showing how she is rising above her old age, like the Phoenix that rises above the ashes. Eudora Welty's story of Phoenix Jackson show tat even if there is something holding one back one must rise above the ashes with fierce determination just as the mythical Phoenix and Phoenix Jackson.

In the story Welty describes Phoenix as old, but that does not stop Phoenix Jackson who is so indomitable and focused, that things that would stop a normal old woman are nothing to her as long as she stays focused on her goal. Welty shows through out the essay that Phoenix is old, either through what Phoenix says or how the author describes her, for instance in the first paragraph it is blatantly stated that Phoenix was. ".. an old negro woman". In the latter part of the story Phoenix speaks of her age and physical condition, like when she encounters the scarecrow in the corn field and says, "My senses are gong. I too old. I the oldest people I ever know". Phoenix talks again of her age when she is drinking at the ravine saying, "Nobody know who made this well, for it was here when I was born".

Phoenix has age going against her in her in her trek to town, and her age will cause many complications throughout the story. Welty clearly states that Phoenix is old, but it is clear that her age or any obstacles will not stop her from getting to where she needs to be. The hindrances that Phoenix faces in the story range from crossing a log across a creek, crawling through a barbed-wire fence, and even a man trying to talk and mock her out of going to town. The man finds Phoenix in a ditch that she fell in when she saw a black do that scared her. He helps her out of the ditch and started talking to her.

She tells the man where she is going, and he is surprised, and he says to her, "Now you go on home, Granny". This man was trying to get her to turn around, but Phoenix tells him she is going to town. She will not give up even though the weather is against her; she has no coat, proper footwear, or anything to protect her from the elements. Even if she has all of these things against her she is still going to trudge on because she knows that she needs the medication for her grandson. Welty gave her main character of her story the name Phoenix to personify the mythical bird Phoenix, a bird that rises from the ashes post-mortem.

Every hurdle she faces and her age are the ashes she rises above. The first ashes Phoenix rises above are found in the initial paragraph, Welty says that. ".. she is very old and small". In the second paragraph Welty write about Phoenix Jackson's physical appearance and attire. Welty writes that Phoenix is wearing a "bleached sugar sack" white apron. Phoenix's eyes are "blue with age", and she has a gold color on her forehead, and the "two knobs of her cheeks are illumined by a yellow burning under the dark. Welty writes of her black hair and the red rag that she mentions in the first paragraph.

Red is the main color of a Phoenix bird. The Phoenix came out of the Greek word Phoenix, which is related to Pho inos meaning blood-red. Welty describes Phoenix as someone who is strong willed and who will rise above, like her namesake, the Phoenix. Welty's story of Phoenix Jackson's simple adventure is told from, "Phoenix's unreliable point of view", is one of inspiration that show that one can rise from their own ashes, like the Phoenix or Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix shows us that every obstacle can be overcome if you have the determination to reach your final goal.

Welty show that this little old woman did not let anything stop her to inspire others to push their feelings and fears aside, and to rise up from your ashes and face your obstacles with the fierce determination like Phoenix.