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Ivette Urbina
Professor McMills
English 102 5859
May 17, 2007
Act of Courage
What drives an aged woman to travel a great distance filled with obstacles? In the
short story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, the main character, Phoenix Jackson sets
out on a quest to obtain medication for her ailing grandson. Although she faces physical
infirmity and blatant racism, she demonstrates courage and dignity. Her actions attain
nobility in the post Civil War.
Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in1909 (Yardley1). Welty was
known as the first lady of Southern literature; she won many prizes, among those was a
Pulitzer Prize she won in 1969 (Lewis 1). Welty’s works are quite charming, or even
witty; however, Welty inspires human relations and sentimentally touches the reader
(Yardley1). Welty wrote the short story “A Worn Path” in 1940, it appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly review in 1941 (Hall 1). Welty had family members that were sick, like
Phoenix Jackson the main character in “A Worn Path”. Welty stopped writing and
decided to take care of her brothers and mother full time; after her mother died in 1966,
she went back to writing (Lewis1). Welty also struggled, had difficult money situations,
“and the pain wasn’t always easy to bear.”(Yardley2). Even though during the time
Welty wrote “A Worn Path” blacks were not considered slaves, there was still oppression
and racism (Sykes 1). Welty points out the struggles the black community has to endure;
“her disappointment deepens into anger” (Yardley 3). Welty is inspired to create Phoenix
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Jackson because Welty witnessed an old black woman “crossing a wintry field”(Hall2).
This is key, for what Welty saw made her feel compassion and pushed her to write the
short story “A Worn Path”.
The same happens to Phoenix Jackson which is making her way into town for her
grandson’s medicine; she is ready for the dangers that are to come. It is a cold winter day
“tapping the frozen earth” ( Welty189). It is December, around Christmas time; it grows
darker as she walks deep into the forest. The old woman must be careful for there are so
many dangers leading up the path. There are animals that can harm the old woman. She
calls out so that they may not be in her way: “Keep the big wild hogs out of my path”
(189). She gives this cry of bravery to alert anything that may cross her way.
Phoenix is very old with “numberless branching wrinkles” (189). The age factor
makes her trip very difficult; the old black woman must carry a support a “cane made
from an umbrella” (189). Phoenix uses the cane to guide her; since she is very old her eye
sight begins to fail her. Her old age does not even allow her to tie her shoelaces; Phoenix
remains the whole trip with her shoelaces untied until she reaches the town.
With profound heaviness on her feet Phoenix feels as though she cannot move
forward, “Seem like there is chains about my feet.” (190) Imagery is used here when
Phoenix climbs a hill that is tiresome (Sykes 1). Some of Phoenix’s ordeals may seem
insignificant; however because of her age, she is shaken up by her dress being caught up
in a bush that “never want to let folks pass.”(190). She is annoyed and feels the disruption
all over her body. Even though Phoenix surpasses a log and a barbed wire fence, she has
her eyes closed, allowing her feet to guide her. She “opened her eyes…and she was safe
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on the other side” (190). She is amused at the fact that she has overcome, and is thankful
that she was not cut into pieces. The hazardous journey makes Phoenix physically
drained she “sat down to rest” (190). She has indeed crossed the harshest aspects of her
existence (Bartel 290).
The exhaustion is not only physical; it is also psychological. The old woman has
a vision of a boy offering her a marble cake as she stretches her hand she finds that it is
just her imagination “hand in the air.”(190). This hallucination is an indication of the
need for integration in the South. This is not the case when a white hunter approaches
Phoenix and tries to intimidate her, “a hunter, a young man, with his dog on a chain”
(192). He scares off another dog, and with this act Phoenix only reinforces her dignity as
a human (Sykes 2). There is irony when the hunter calls Phoenix “Granny” (192). He is
ignorant, because he tries to blind himself of the fact that Phoenix has come a long way.
The hunter laughs at Phoenix for making her way into town; he feels he needs to make
fun of her when he tells her that “I know you old colored people…going to town to see
Santa Claus” (192).How strong Phoenix must be in order to cope with the hunter’s racist
remarks. When the hunter steps back to chase of a dog Phoenix was able to steal a nickel
that had fallen from his pocket. “God watching me the whole time. I come to
stealing.”(193). She surprised herself yet to only justify her vulnerability.
Phoenix reaches the city to acquire the medicine, the attendant from the medical
building demands Phoenix to react and respond “Speak up, Grandma” (194). The medical
attendant urges Phoenix to speak, even as she sees that Phoenix is old and patience is
required. The attendant looks down on Phoenix and with her mocking voice she says
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“Are you deaf?”(194). Indeed Phoenix is not deaf; the attendant judges her without
knowing the life threatening ordeals she has overcome just to arrive at the hospital.
The nurse clarifies the situation with the attendant and shows that Phoenix has
come for her grandson’s medicine: “She doesn’t come for herself – she has a little
grandson” (194). The nurse understands the sad condition of Phoenix’s grandson and
helps Phoenix because of her brave act. However, the nurse is restless and wants Phoenix
to clarify if her grandson had died after swallowing the lye. Phoenix is so tired she cannot
respond, “Silent, erect and motionless, just as she were in armor” (194). This is due to the
exhaustion she had encountered from the wilderness; after all the struggles she forgets for
a slight second what she is doing there. Phoenix finally claims the medicine that she
needs to soothe her grandson’s throat, “no missy he not dead” (195). The workers are so
impatient that Phoenix once again shows courage and declares that she wouldn’t forget
the boy again.
Phoenix understands that she is not prepared to the face the tribulations she has to
encounter; however her love for her grandson is enough. Phoenix has no one else to fight
for because her grandson is all she has: “We is the only two left in the world” (195).
Phoenix adores her grandson and is willing to risk her life for him. Phoenix cannot return
home without a gift, for she adores her grandson “He hot a sweet look. He going to last”
(195). It is like a parting premonition that points out the stones she must surpass to save
the life of her grandson (Sykes 2).
It is clear that Phoenix Jackson is triumphant over the impediments of the path
and the obstacles of the persons that try to intimidate her. Her heartfelt act leads her to
escape the dangers the trace and of racially prejudiced people during the post Civil War
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period. She is an old feeble woman who makes herself a heroine because she cannot let
her grandson suffer. The greatest recompense for her is to obtain the medicine no matter
what she must encounter; she is driven by the profound love she feels for her boy. She
puts the medicine in her pocket after leaving the medical building; she must be valiant
moving toward the worn path smoothed by her love.
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