Allusions In A Worn Path

When Welty describes Old Phoenix it is very easy to see the similarities with the bird of Egyptian myth. Then after carefully describing Phoenix’s physical appearance, Welty incorporates the use of other senses as well. The sound of a bird that Welty uses is just one example of how subtle Welty can be when mixing the Egyptian bird into the story. These examples prove that Phoenix is not just an ordinary character but instead, Old Phoenix is a character with a higher meaning.

A worn path is a story about a woman named Phoenix Jackson who needs to go a journey to town to get medicine for her sick grandson. It is a trip she has made before many times before (hence the title A worn Path) but there is something special about this trip, something different. In this paper I plan to dwell into the symbolism behind the Legend of the Phoenix and its relationship to her journey in the story. The legend of the Phoenix is about a fabled sacred bird of ancient Egyptians, said to come out of Arabia every 500 years to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on altar and rose again from its ashes young and beautiful; symbol of immortality. I think this story also represents Christian beliefs because the setting is

The vision of the young boy serving marble cake is seen through a pearly cloud is “acceptable” (Rogers, 96) yet the hand Phoenix reaches out in acceptance grasps nothing, it is empty leaving “just her own hand in the air”. (Roberts, 96). David Piwinski described this as a reference to Phoenix as “Christ-like” and a reminder of “Christmas”. (40) Others explain this as a vision of her dead or alive grandson (Bartel, 288-290) or a reference to the “metamorphosis from a sturdy tree…from which Christ’s cross was built… to a parasitic shrub.” (Evans, as quoted in Piwinski, 41)

for her grand child with lye poisoning. Along the way she encounters several obstacles. Welty throughout the story the author makes several points to connect this work to other famous works of literature to strengthen her character without directly doing so. The author uses imagery to recreate famous parts of The Bible also the main character's name, Phoenix Jackson is a reference to the mystical bird the phoenix which is a symbol for rebirth. Phoenix Jackson symbolically is reborn several times throughout the story. The stories title and main plot point is the path she walks which holds many similarities to the path of life.

Overall, Phoenix Jackson’s character adds to the story through her humble, maternal strength. Phoenix’s love for her grandchild brought her through many challenges, but year after year as she completes her trek, she keeps her grandson as her top priority. This overwhelming level of determination allows her to keep hold of her most valuable possession. Through her actions she reveals to the reader that her humble, caring, determined nature allows her to overcome the odds and provide for her family as well as maintain a simple Southern elegance.

Phoenix also symbolizes a mythical bird; she has “the regenerative qualities of the bird are seen in Phoenix’s determination each time she suffers a setback,” Like the bird how it gets reborn again Phoenix keeps on getting up from the challenges and keeps on going just like getting reborn again. That is why the author named the main character Phoenix because she is like the mythical bird the phoenix in many ways even the description of Phoenix gives symbolism of her being like the bird. Phoenix wears a red rag to tie her hair and running underneath her skin “a golden color” [welty1274]. The image of the bird is shown in Phoenix’s face “the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark” [Welty 1274]. Her golden tone skin represents the fiery golden red feathers the bird has.

The mythological story "A Worn Path” is of tales and figures, the most considerable, being the legend of the phoenix. There are numerous symbols and allusions brought about in the story relating to the legend of the phoenix. The phoenix is a bird that comes from Egyptian mythology. The best analogy of the phoenix is a magnificent bird. The phoenix has astonishing powers. It has the knack to materialize and vanish in the blink of an eye. The myth states the phoenix travels to the sun. The sun gives the phoenix it powers. The heat incinerates the bird. The bird is reborn from the ashes. From her name along with appearance to her action and the symbolism throughout the story, Phoenix Jackson is the manifestation of the phoenix (bird).

A person’s journey can have symbols that come through everyone’s life. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Eudora describes symbols by using people that come through Phoenix’s path while she’s in her journey to Natchez. Eudora uses a nickel, marble cake, big dead trees, mistletoe, and a white hunter to symbolize Phoenix’s difficulties and obstacles that she had to go through in order to get to her destination.

Phoenix Jackson is an elderly, African American women who makes her way to town to pick up medicine for her grandson. Along the way, she encounters difficulties that she overcomes in order to reach her destination. Welty uses the south’s view of African Americans to inspire Jackson’s journey. She meets up with a young, white man who is hunting while walking through the woods. He condescends her because of her old age and the color of her skin. He even, at one point, aims his gun at her as a joke. She never falters, and even ends up stealing a nickel from him. Also, when she enters the clinic where she needs to pick up the medicine, the receptionist thinks she is merely lost and unintelligent. She talks to Jackson as if she is less than her until a nurse, who knows Jackson, steps in. These things are southern aspects that can only be so accurately depicted if the writer is a southerner

With the first name of Phoenix, Ms. Welty is showing the symbol of a Greek mythological bird that could live to be one hundred to one thousand years. The old phoenix dies in a pile of ashes, much like the ashes used to make lye, only to reemerge a new magnificent, colorful bird, to live another cycle of life (Wikipedia). Much like the bird, Phoenix Jackson has a red rag around her head, a wrinkled face with yellow illuminating skin, ringlets hanging from her hair, a striped dress, and a bleached sugar sack apron (Welty). In addition, similar, her age, like the bird, Phoenix is aged but wise, likely close to one hundred years, reemerges back to life once she received the medicine her grandson needed. Even the last name of Jackson is likely to be a symbol of a Doctor, who according to an essay by Melisa D. Stang, “Parting the Curtain on Lye Poisoning in “A Worn Path,”” was named Chevalier

Phoenix Jackson is a symbol herself she represents a mythical bird. The bird symbolizes rebirth and rising from the flames. This is just the beginning of Eudora Welty’s list of symbols. The title signifies that she has gone through that path many times before.

Allusions to the Christian bible are a common tool used within “A Worn Path”. To begin explaining its prevalence, it is worth noting that even the main character’s name has a meaning deeper than one may predict. Phoenix, the first name of the main character, is also the species of a mythical bird often found in ancient literature written by both the Greeks and early Christians. For context, the bird was described by the Greeks as being about the size of an eagle, with a ring of light surrounding its body to symbolize its connection to the sun. Most importantly, though, it had the unique ability of regenerating after death. Marilynn Keys, an english professor at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, explains the correlation between the mythical creature and Christianity best in her work “”A Worn Path’: The Way of Dispossession”. She states “The Phoenix figure was often used in early Christian art and literature where it was a popular symbol for the resurrection of Christ” [Keys 354]. Keys implies that both Jesus and the Phoenix share the similar ‘trait’ of regenerating after death, where Jesus resurrects after dying on the cross and the bird regenerates into a newborn version of itself.

and faces the challenging experience of walking through the snowy, frozen earth to get to

Initially, Saunders and I both drew on the important comparison between Welty’s Phoenix Jackson and the large bird known through history as a phoenix. While I chose to highlight the similarities in common traits between Ms. Jackson and the bird, Saunders poses the ideas that Phoenix represents the bird physically. Saunders recalls the red head rag she wears, stating, “The color of that head apparel cannot be accepted as coincidental; recall the scarlet plumage of the ancient bird” (2). Welty likely implements the

Phoenix Jackson endures many obstacles along her journey through the worn path. When faced with hardship, she persevered regardless of her difficult circumstances. The reader watches her climb up and down a steep hill that was hard on her feeble body. Then, she comes to a creek with a log lying across it. The reader is aware that Phoenix has a hard time walking, but instead of giving up she faces this extremely dangerous and challenging situation as “…she mounted the log and shut her eyes” (Welty 645). When she gets to the other side she opens her eyes. Welty uses this challenge to show the reader that sometime one must rely on faith to get through trials. Next a barbed wire fence challenges her but she meets it without fear. Eventually, Phoenix encounters a white hunter who tries to persuade her to turn around by pointing his gun at her asking, “Doesn’t the gun