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A Worn Path

 

            
             Our journey through this world, with its unexpected obstacles and stumbling blocks, is easily compared to one woman's trip to town on a mission of unselfish love, to get medicine for her grandson. Whether the worn path in this story is representative of Phoenix's life, or simply life in general, it is filled with symbols for the obstacles and evils found in any one person's journey through a lifetime.
             It isn't difficult to find several examples of symbolism in "A Worn Path."" The author, Eudora Welty, uses many, and most of them are nature symbols. The first one that becomes apparent to the reader is the main character's name, "Phoenix Jackson- (105). A phoenix is a mythical bird that rises from the ashes of its own destruction to begin anew. If Phoenix Jackson is seen as a representative of her race after the civil war, it is easy to find a connection. Just as a phoenix will rise from the ashes, so too did the African American people, emerging from their long years of oppression. Or the significance of Phoenix's name could be taken as symbolic of her own resilience. Her devotion to her grandson and her determination to care for him are there to see in her arduous journey, which the nurse comments on: "She makes these trips just as regular as clockwork- (110).
             Other symbols soon become evident to the reader. When Phoenix climbs the hill, she remarks to herself that it "seems like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far- (106). This hill is symbolic of the hard life Phoenix has traveled in order to get what she wants. Soon after, the old woman comes across a thorn bush, which caught her dress. Phoenix says to the bush, "Thorns, you doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass "no sir- (106). The fact that Phoenix feels that "it was not possible to allow the dress to tear- shows her unwillingness to compromise her beliefs when faced with an obstacle in life (106).


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