Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path

Slow, weak, inactive and relaxed – Those are the words that normally describe old people; but Phoenix Jackson in the short story “A Worn Path” by the author Eudora Welty shows that old people are not as weak as what people normally think throughout her long journey. Phoenix Jackson is an old African American woman who goes through a trip to a hospital to get a medicine for her sick grandson. On the outside, she is an ordinary old woman who wears a red rag and a cane made out of an umbrella.

However, Phoenix contradicts the normal image of an old woman as the color of the red rag reflects her characteristics: active, strong, restless, and full of responsibility. As she values her responsibility for her grandson the most, she gets great patience and strength to continue the journey. A result, she achieves her goal, which is to get a cure for her ill grandson. Phoenix’s decision of not giving up on her long adventure, even at the face of obstacles, shows how wisely she endures for her goal and undauntedly overcomes the obstacles.

Phoenix’s reaction to the obstacles of her journey shows her inner strength as she overcomes each obstruction to her goal. Her first obstruction is “the worn path” itself because she is too old to climb a hill and cross a river. However, her strong desire to complete her duty for grandson keeps her continuing the journey and she doesn’t even think of giving up. The second obstacle appears when she meets a racist white hunter.

As a racist, he looks down on her and even mocks her by saying “I know you old colored people! Wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus!”(637 Welty) However, she doesn’t mind what he says and rather ignores his insulting behavior. Also, by picking up hunter’s nickel that fell to the ground, she pays his rudeness back without responding to his valueless conversation. In fact, her biggest crisis is when the hunter “lifted his gun and pointed it at Phoenix” (637 Welty). At this moment, she could have panicked, but by staying calm and still, she even surprises the hunter and shows her inner strength. As a consequence, he lets her go and does not mock her again. All the motivations for her to overcome the obstruction come from her well determined responsibility that she demonstrates.

After she gets over the obstructions, she reaches a hospital and gets a medicine for her grandson. Getting a medicine is not just to soothe her grandson, but to complete her duty for him that she makes sure that she is still taking good care of him. The author confirms Phoenix’s activeness and restless. Nevertheless of her achievement, people still looks down on her and even think that she should stop the journey. The nurse in the hospital says “All right. The doctor said as long as you came to get it, you could have it.

But it’s an obstinate case.”(639 Welty) The nurse shows nothing more than sympathy because she came all the way down to the town with her old age. Since her grandson’s condition has shown no improvement, neither the doctor nor the nurse think that Phoenix should continue the journey. But as a matter of fact, their opinions would not be matter for her because to get a medicine for her grandson is all that she can do for him. Her choice of not giving up on her adventure is her only option that she could do for her grandson.

Consequently, Phoenix’s expedition demonstrates that since nothing could be achieved easily, people should have a strong passion toward their goal and great endurance to overcome the obstacles whenever they face it. If Phoenix had no desire to continue her trip, then she would have just stopped it, and she would not have been mocked by the hunter either. Therefore as Phoenix gets her inner strength from her love of grandson to keep going on her trip, people should have own motivation to get strength to sustain their goal.

Unlike what the nurse and doctor think, her adventure is an important part of her role as a grandmother in Phoenix’s life because there is no other way to show her love for her grandson. The nurse and the doctor only see the condition of Phoenix’s grandson and judge her actions, but in Phoenix’s life, the process of getting him a medicine is as important as the result, because there exists little hope for her to improve his condition. If she gives up as what people think, her grandson could never be better. In that way, she could not give up on her adventure and furthermore, the author emphasizes the significance of the process as well as the result.

Phoenix, as a responsible grand mother, is well determined and wisely old. Without anyone’s help, she concludes her trip and even achieves her goal of getting medicine. The author confirms that the old woman could be active and strong enough to sustain herself, and suggests what people should react to the obstruction when they face it by Phoenix’s long trip. In addition to this lesson, the author demonstrates that other people’s opinions are not as important as people’s own motivations of goals. With people’s strong motivations, they could achieve their goals just like Phoenix’s stout mind leads her to the final success.