The Examination of a Worn Path

The Examination of a Worn Path

An author expresses themselves through writing and it can come in many different forms such as a novel, a short story, and a poem. When conveying their thoughts, they try to appeal to the reader in away were the audience can grasp the concept that they are trying to get across. Plot, point of view, tone, setting, character, and symbolism are a few methods associated with the authors need to illustrate the theme of their writings. In this paper I'll be examining a short story written by Eudora Welty in titled "A Worn Path". Furthermore, I will discuss the theme of the story, distinguish two literary terms that contributes to the authors over all theme and lastly, explore how the chosen terms affect the theme of the story.

Eudora Wetly was a Pulitzer Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom award winning writer. "A Worn Path" was a short story written by Welty in 1941. The theme of this story was about the aging and love of a southern African-American woman named Phoenix Jackson. Jackson, like so many of us today, had a difficult time accepting the reality that she wasn't the youthful woman that she once was. Jackson was quite old and suffering from disabilities that forced her to walk with a cane. Even though she was plagued by age and disabilities she regularly traveled long distances to acquire medicine for her grandchild that she loved so dearly.

As I continued to read the story I was able to identify two very important literally terms that contributed to Welty's theme. The color yellow was used in a symbolic way; yellow has a lot of different meanings in literature but for this story is represented age. For example, "The two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the dark"( Clugston,R.,2010). Again, in this anecdote yellow meant that Jackson was aging and it was apparent by her overall appearance.

Another literally term that aided Welty in the theme of her story was the third-point of view. She reveals the thoughts of Phoenix Jackson in dialogue to the animals that were surrounding her in the beginning of the story as her head towards her destination in the following passage: Old Phoenix said, "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals! Keep out from under these feet, little bob-whites. Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way"(Clugston,R.,2010). This shift between the character and the narrator afforded me the opportunity to share in the feelings and thoughts of Jackson.

The literally terms used by the writer in my opinion was spot on when making the story understandable and enjoyable for the audience. The third person point of view really gave me chance to hear and sympathize with Phoenix Jackson. I really admire the fact that I got to hear Jackson's