Phoenix Jackson, a woman born a slave, now has her freedom and in her old age is going on a journey to get medicine for her grandson. Her grandson drank lye, a type of soap, which destroyed his throat. The medicine will not cure the problem but it will make it more bearable for the boy. He will inevitably die from it but that doesn’t deter Phoenix from going to get the medicine whenever he needs it. She loves her grandson so she is willing to travel a great distance for medicine that can only make
from the first person to walk on the moon, to a guy saving people from a burning building.Phoenix Jackson is introduced as an “old negro woman with her hair tied in a red rag” (47) walking along a path in the woods where her journey begins. In Eudora Welty's short story, “A Worn Path”, the protagonist Phoenix Jackson is hero because of her goals, mysterious origin, and her descent into darkness.. Phoenix is a hero because of her mysterious and obscure origin. It is never revealed where she is from
our suffering”. Phoenix Jackson is an old and small women on a journey. When one thinks about a hero, the qualities are having courage, selflessness, patience and caring which is everything the character Phoenix Jackson presents in this short novel. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word hero? Usually an average individual believes they are strong, tall, muscular and powerful, however that is not always true. In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson justifies that a
Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” tells a story about an elderly woman who goes on an journey by foot in search for medicine for her sick grandson. On this journey the grandmother, Phoenix Jackson stumbles upon many obstacles causing her to face hardships that she refuses to let get in her way because of her love for her grandson. Phoenix’s determination to complete this journey in order to help the one she loves concludes Welty’s purpose. The argument Welty makes in “A Worn Path,” is that people are
Eudora Welty; A Worn Path Welty, Eudora. A Worn Path. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 1991. Print. In Eudora Welty’s, A Worn Path, Phoenix Jackson is on a “Hero’s” type journey to obtain medicine for her grandson whom is sick; she encounters a hunter, and a few other townspeople and a doctor. This story involves an old women named Phoenix Jackson whom is “the oldest people {she} ever known”, she is on a journey to the town of Natchez to fetch medicine for her Grandson who swallowed Lye about two
of the archetype which states that heroes are from obscure or mysterious origin. Superman wants to save the planet from evil, the protagonist in “A Worn Path” has a simple goal. Finally, Superman is able to renew himself after he makes a mistake, similarly the protagonist in Welty’s story does the same. In Eudora Welty’s “ A Worn Path”, Phoenix Jackson, a former 90 year old slave sets out on a trip in the middle of winter to obtain his medicine is considered a hero because she has set goals, mysterious
The Ideal Hero Eudora Welty makes it obvious that old Phoenix Jackson is a modern hero compared to any mythology that has come out of old greek lore. A well rounded former slave goes on a quest to pick up medicine for her dying grandson, certainly a unique hero but a hero nonetheless. In the ideas of Joseph Campbell hero’s of the greek time had a checklist of things that truly made them considered a hero. For modern day heros the idea of this fitting them isn’t too odd of an idea in fact many modern
his duty.” -George Bernard Shaw. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Strangeworth has this idea that it is her “duty” to remove all of the evil from her town. In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” Phoenix Jackson’s“duty” is to get medicine for her sick grandson. In “The Possibility of Evil” and “A Worn Path” the protagonists both have a portrayal of “duty”. In “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Strangeworth has this idea that it is her duty to remove all evil from her town. She writes
Sunlight streamed from the feathers of the phoenix (phoinix) as it flew to Heliopolis, the Egyptian City of the Sun. This majestic bird lives immortal life as every five hundred years, the wise creature sheds its incandescent red and gold plumage in a burst of flames to be reborn “in an egg of myrrh” (Atsma) within the Great Egyptian Temple of the Sun. The phoenix symbolizes hope, honor, and hails of refuge. Phoenix Jackson, in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”, hold these qualities dear and near to her
Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path and Willa Cather’s Paul's Case focus on vastly different protagonists, but in each, the setting plays a vital role in creating an atmosphere that is reflected by the characters. In A Worn Path, Phoenix Jackson is portrayed as a wise, patient old woman, a characterization that could not contrast more starkly than with Paul of Paul’s Case, an impulsive, depressive and myopic teenager. However, in both cases, setting serves to accentuate these features, and adds to the reader’s