Symbolism of Journey in I Used to Live Here Once and A Worn Path - Essay Example

?Symbolism of Journey in “I Used to Live Here Once” and “A Worn Path” Introduction The various experiences encountered on journey become an inspiration for literature to translate them into a more creative body of words. The significance of these experiences varies according to how people perceive it. Two of the most memorable literary works with the same central subject are: “I Used To Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty. In a way, both stories have opposing themes since the characters have different personalities, where one is a symbol of resurrection, and the other symbolizes death or coldness. The short stories are about the journeys in which people take even though they are not certain about what might happen along the way; while the style and the form were influenced on the experiences of these women writers, and their struggle to continue their journey despite difficulties and a possible discouragement in the end. Journey as a theme and the Qualities of the Main Characters An obvious observation from the stories is that the theme revolves around the concept of journey, but leaves the readers the question of what journey is it about. Also, the two stories are largely political in a sense that it can work with racism as a sub-theme, given the time frame of which the stories were written and the corresponding political and societal issues they represent. To combine both journey and racism as themes, it could be said that the journey to totally abolish racism does not assure of a smooth-sailing path, more so with an absolute positive result in the end. I Used to Live Here The characters, however, went on with their journey possessing different reactions as they reach the end of the road. The character that Rhys created possesses a mysterious nature, revealing at the later part of the story that she is ‘colored.’ At the beginning, Rhys emphasized how difficult the path is for the girl where there were stepping stones which were “unsteady, pointed and flat” (Rhys, 1994). According to GottsChalk (n.d.), the presence of the stepping stones at the beginning of a paragraph might cause confusion to the readers as they can imply various things. For one, it can refer to the way the narrator invites the reader to see things in her perspective. Another is that it symbolizes the kind of journey she is about to take or can serve as a foreshadowing of what might await her in her destination. The first assumption could be true, but the second one fits the argument that this paper asserts. For one thing, the revelation that the stepping stones imply further clarifies the ambiguity of the purpose of the girl in this story. She wanted to take a visit to her past residence, but it seems that the road may not be all the same. Gregg (1995) contends that the ultimate way for the girl to go back is death. Journey, as a theme, can be obviously seen at the first paragraph where the persona noticed the three stepping stones. Williams (2011) might have agreed about the meaning of the stones when he said that “life for a human being is a mysterious journey with conflicting guidelines” (para. 2) which indeed talks about life’s journey as a whole. The “mysterious” journey being articulated by Williams (2011) was not quite what Frickey (1990) understood. Frickery (1990) said that the stepping stones symbolize “variously safe and treacherous...dangerous passage through life” (p. 100). As how the author describes one of the stones, it appears to be dry but “it was slippery” (Rhys, 1994). Apparently, there are two ideas which might be extracted from the persona; whether she is a ghost visiting to her old town or a girl who was simply ignored by the West Indie-born European children because she is a child of color. The issue of racism in the story appears when the main character calls out to two children and tells them that she “used to live [there] once” (Rhys, 1994); but no matter how she calls out to them, there was no response. Because of that, the main character felt that the “white blood is asserting itself” (Rhys, 1994, para. 5). This is a rather strong sentence uttered by the character and significantly implies that there must be a racial issue involved with the whole thing. Knowing that Rhys is a Caribbean-born and multiracial woman herself, much of her works reflected how is it to live as a ‘colonial.’ In her book The day they burned books, the main character once said: “I also was tired of learning and reciting poems in praise of daffodils, and my relations with the few 'real' English boys and girls I had met were awkward. I had discovered that if I called myself English they would snub me haughtily: 'You're not English; you're a horrid colonial.” (Rhys, 1968 as cited in Luikkonen, 2008) This passage from one of Rhys’s books could be related to the reaction of the children to the main character in “I Used To Live Here Once.” This indifference and the constant feel of invisibility among others made her path going home difficult. Nonetheless, she continued her journey. At the end of the story, however, the main character was surprised about what she discovered for the first time. There were several speculations about what did the girl actually know at the end of the narrative. Perhaps it would make sense that the girl could be a ghost visiting her old town, however, not in a literal way. According to Olmos and Pravasini-Gelbert (1997), isolation has become more intense in that part, leaving the protagonist in disbelief, that such isolation really exists. A Worn Path If Jean Rhys and Eudora Welty should have something in common aside from their professions, it would be their character’s racial background and their own experiences of isolation and discrimination as they struggle to be accepted in the society they belong. Welty’s “A Worn Path” somewhat resembles Rhys’s perception about journey for people like them; however, Welty created a stronger character in terms of enduring the pains of obstacles. According to Bloom (2007), a “worn path” serves as descriptions of “human relations constructed in a racist society” (p. 60). The story is about an African American woman named Phoenix Jackson who is having her routinary journey to the town of Natchez to get some medicine for her ill grandson who swallowed lye few years ago, damaging his throat permanently. During her journey, it is shown that the road was not an ideal type of pathway that any old woman should take; it is full of danger and wild animals which might hurt her. However, this did not stop her from taking her regular journey for her little grandson. At one point, when she was already going uphill, she feels that there are “chains about [her] feet” and “something always take a hold of [her]” in that hill and “pleads [her] to stay” (Welty, 1941, para. 4). This part of the story, although Phoenix keeps on moving forward, depicts the backwardness of the community in terms of tolerance of racial difference. To feel that she should stay would mean the society’s preference for racial segregation. On her way, she encounters a White man hunter. The White man pointed his gun to Phoenix, expecting that she might be scared, but Phoenix was brave and said that she encountered more than that in her younger years. According to Moberly (2005), such act is a clear manifestation of the “Jim Cow racial violence.” In the course of Phoenix’s journey, it can be observed that there were different circumstances which could probably make her think that she should go back. However, she did not and continued her journey instead. The name “Phoenix” somewhat reflects the ideas presented by the main character herself. A phoenix is a mythical bird that turns into ashes in death and resurrects with its own ashes after 500 years. Relating to Phoenix Jackson and the journey she is taking, Phoenix has experienced several resurrections along her way. Each obstacle serve as a point in which the lady dies and each time she recovers is her resurrection. Another observation which might have been noticed by the readers is her constant mention about her old self. There were different events in the story that she was asked about her age or just felt that she is “old.” For example, when the young hunter asked her about her age, she simply said “no telling” (Welty, 1941), or when the nurse addressed her “old aunt Phoenix.” Certainly, the readers would realize that Phoenix is old, but how old is old would be the question. Perhaps, the reason behind Welty not telling what age exactly is Phoenix is to emphasize the “depth of her experience” and not the quantity of years spend. If these ideas would be synthesized, including the symbolism or journey and racism, it could be possible to say that Phoenix serves as an “embodiment of the tradition of the African American journey to freedom, the slave narrative" (Moberly, 2005, p. 9). Style and Form Symbolism aside, the two stories are distinct when it comes to form and style. Rhys’s “I Used To Live Here Once” is too short if compared to the length of Welty’s “A Worn Path” but it does not mean that it has less impact. The stylistic qualities of Rhys’s story are mainly descriptive and full of images appealing to the senses which create a clear setting in the minds of the readers. However, for Gottschalk (n.d.), an essential part of the stylistic elements in the story is the use of a personal narrator. Rhys’s experiences during her childhood as a white creole in the Caribbean might be the main influencing factor of her writing style. In a report of McDowell (2009), Rhys’s “sparse writing style” did not impress the critics during the 1930’s. This “spareness” also appears to be the structure of “I Used To Live Here Once,” but it cannot be said that it does not have a purpose. Observably, the story has a plotless content, wherein there was really no definite thread which connects one event to the other. It is understood, however, that the purpose of the writer might be to preserve the mysteriousness of the main character’s identity and what awaits her in her destination. The point of the story does not really have to do with what happened and what is next to happen like the traditional Aristotolean Plot; instead, the author brings the readers to a certain immediacy with the abrupt realization by the character. On the other hand, Welty’s narrative is the opposite. The events were gradual, and the revealing of symbolisms was slow, as opposed to other contemporary writers in her time. But unlike the traditional plot where events are predictable, Welty’s use of the formalist structure did invoke curiosity. According to Bethea (2002), the “cunning structure” of the plot invokes racism as a central theme “while withholding crucial information until a final, revelatory reversal” which makes it similar to Rhys’s short story (p. 32). Moreover the inequality which Welty wants to emphasize is her constant juxtaposition of Phoenix Jackson's economic difference with the rest of the characters (e.g. the nurse giving nickles to Phoenix in the hospital). This contrast appearing in a single act further highlights what Welty wanted to emphasize. Conclusion The two stories presented are clear manifestations on how women in the early 20th Century, despite of their lack of rights, are keenly observing and also wanted to make changes while willingly take the journey to racial freedom. The journey, as depicted in both stories, is not easy especially that there are obstacles and personal hesitations that can emerge along the way. The willingness to go on, despite the uncertainty of what awaits them, made the stories an instrument of revealing inequality through juxtaposition and symbolisms. In other words, the structure, form and personal background of the authors contributed to the overall content. References Bethea, D. (2001). Phoenix has no coat: Historicity, eschatology, and sins of omission in Eudora Welty's "A worn path. International Fiction Review, 32. Bloom, H. (2007). Eudora Welty. NY: Infobase Publishing. Frickery, P.M. (1990). Critical perspectives on Jean Rhys. Washington: The Three Continents Press. GottsChalk, F. (n.d.). Interpretation of a short story: "I used to live here once" by Jean Rhys. Germany: Grin. Gregg, V.M. (1995). Jean Rhy's historical imagination: Reading and writing the Creole. NC: University of North Carolina Press. Liukkonen, P. (2008). Jean Rhys (1890-1979) - Pseudonym of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams. Pegasos. Retrieved from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rhys.htm McDowell, L. (2009, May 03). Jean Rhys: Prostitution, alcoholism and the mad woman in the attic. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/ books/features/jean-rhys-prostitution-alcoholism-and-the- mad-woman-in-the-attic-1676252.html Moberly, K. (2005). Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" and the slave narrative tradition. The Mississippi Quarterly. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/ mi_hb3524/is_1-2_59/ai_n29241339/pg_16/?tag=mantle_skin;content Olmos, M.F., & Paravisini-Gebert, L. (1997). Sacred possessions: Vodou, Santeria, Obeah, and the Caribbean. NJ: Rutgers State University. Rhys, J. (1994). I used to live here once. Caribbean Beat. Retrieved from http://www.meppublishers.com/online/ caribbean-beat/archive/index.php?pid=6001&id=cb12-2-70 Welty, E. (1941). A worn path. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/41feb/wornpath.htm Williams, A. (2011). I used to live here once. OpenZine. Retrieved from http://www.openzine.com/aspx/ ReadMore.aspx?ID=16752&lid=88&IssueID=3418&zineID=0&divid=410 Read More