A Worn Path by Eudora Welty - Assignment Example

September 12, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty Eudora Welty’s short story en d “A Worn Path” simply depicted the sacrificial journey of grandmother to avail of a free medication for her grandson. Told from the point of view of a narrator, the author vividly described the long walk of the main character, Phoenix Jackson, a very old Negro woman, whose accurate age could not even be correctly remembered (Welty). Readers could already anticipate the main theme from the title through evaluating the analogy between the worn path travelled by Phoenix to the life that she apparently lived as an African American woman during her time. The story evolved through a description of the setting, a cold December morning, where Phoenix was visually illustrated walking through the woods in clear details. From the narrative rundown of her appearance to emphasize her old age, to the intricate summation of the worn path that the character trod, Welty effectively used figurative and descriptive language to complete the intended picture of the character and the setting. The intention of the character’s travel was only revealed near the end of the story as a perfect way to symbolize the triumph amidst the long and tiring walk. The minor characters were instrumental in completing the persona of the main character, as well as symbolizing her as a representation of African Americans whose long journey of suffrage before emancipation, matched the worn and tediously challenging path that her character travailed. In this regard, the current discourse aims to present an explorative and evaluative analysis of the short story through examining the time frame within which the story was written in the late 1930s, as well as the historical backdrop of suffrage and discrimination that African Americans experienced during that time frame. Finally, the information on racism and stereotyped relationship manifested by the while people would be related to the story of Phoenix, as a representation of the tedious process undertaken by African Americans in fighting to gain equality in civil rights. The short story was actually published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1941. During that time, it was revealed that African Americans suffered much through racial discrimination. As emphasized, “African Americans were discriminated in everything they did. Landlords could refuse to allow them to rent from them. Blacks and Whites lived in separate neighborhoods; and often times people would not allow African Americans the right to register to vote” (Delaney 1). It was also revealed that despite the oppression, African Americans were observed to have started to slowly fight for their rights through actively seeking opportunities to improve their lives and those of their family members. This was evident from the story of Phoenix who sought to journey a long way from home just to avail of medications for her grandson from the health institution in town. Her old age was not a hindrance to her objective of finding relief for her grandson’s ailment, and to possibly find good fortune and provide a source of joy to the boy. Likewise, historical facts also disclosed that women’s roles expanded during this time. Accordingly, “life for women was expanding, the men were at war and someone had to step up and take the mens place” (Delaney, Role of women during the 1940s 1). In the story, this depiction could explain the fact that the only person taking care of the boy was Phoenix. Readers could infer that the parents of the boy could be looking for alternative sources of income; where the mother could be working while the father volunteered in the war. Therefore, although women’s roles expanded, it could still be deduced that, like African American men, the women could have experienced greater suffrage through trying to find ways and means to survive while left on their own with the children. Concurrently, Welty’s short story had deeply imbedded roots inspired from historical underpinnings of African Americans of that time. Various discourses have revealed the emergence of groups like the Ku Klux Klan, reported to be “a white underground terrorist group… (who) would not accept black people as equals… They created a wave of terror which included threats of violence, bullying, lynching, setting fire to buildings and murder, among blacks and those who tried to help them” (Black Peoples of America - The Ku Klux Klan). In addition, the Tulsa Riot of 1921, documented as one of the “costliest incident of racial violence in American history” (The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 par. 1), had attested the violence that ensued from mere allegations of sexual assault by a black man to a white woman, which were never actually substantiated. These violent attacks that cause deaths and negative impact on the black community exacerbated any attempts to forge emancipation and freedom from racial discrimination at that time. Historical documents revealed that some white people wanted to help the blacks but they had to conform to the current norms of society. In the story, it could be evaluated that two of the minor characters who Phoenix encountered on the way to town were white. From the historical evidences, it could be presumed that the only reason why these white people allegedly assisted Phoenix was the fact that she was an old women who posed no imminent danger on these white people’s lives. The white man, who was a hunter, quipped racial slurs through calling Phoenix ‘granny’: ““Well, Granny!” he laughed. “What are you doing there?”” (Welty 3). The same name- calling was affirmed by the white lady who Phoenix sought to assist in tying her shoes when she arrived in town. This was interpreted by Bethea as invoking a racist term from the hunter’s perspective to wit: “his initial laughter occurs when he sees her lying helpless, that this outburst is not followed by an apology, that his subsequent laughter is derisive of her, and that he refers to her by the racist term "Granny," which he would never use for an elderly woman if she were white” (Bethea 1). In addition, it was also evident from the story that while these white people had the capacity and the resources to help Phoenix, they really never did. The white lady was described as “carrying an armful of red, green, and silver-wrapped presents; she gave off perfume like the red roses in hot summer” (Welty 5). At the end, the hunter and the lady abandoned Phoenix and allowed her to go on her journey without any offer for assistance in any way. The walk Phoenix took was a representation of the journey that the African Americans traversed in struggling to fight for their rights. The title was most apropos given that descriptive and figurative interpretations of her plight as an African American woman represented the extreme challenge and sacrifice subjected to them. As emphasized, “’A Worn Path’ stakes a claim for the deep humanity, fortitude, and courage of black women, the most oppressed of all the oppressed in the American South. At another level, the title is an indictment of the social world that causes Phoenixs suffering, a call to Weltys readers to exit the "worn path" of human relations constructed by a racist society, one in which an elderly woman must imperil her life to gain begrudged medical treatment for her grandson” (Bethea 1). Historical facts documented African Americans’ suffrage and inner struggle to fight as a united group to affirm their rights to civil liberties and to complete emancipation. It was clear that through the descriptive narrative discourse of Welty, the author had to magnify the racial discrimination perpetuated to African Americans, as a whole, through the character depicted by Phoenix. It was therefore effectively illustrated that the journey towards freedom from suffrage had been long and tedious, analogous to the age of the main character. Yet, despite the wary stance, the character also manifested resilience in adversities and the unwavering hope to reach the intended destination despite facing imminent dangers from the cold, the wildlife, the hunter, as well as the negligence and absence of help. The grandson could also be interpreted as the beacon of hope for a new life. The time frame, the setting, the plot and the characters were used in the story to highlight the racial discrimination impinged on the African Americans at the backdrop of Welty’s writing of the short story. The author used the main character as a perfect embodiment of racial suffrage brought about by years of discrimination and hardship. The worn path could have just been a medium to communicate the prejudice inflicted by society to the blacks. An interesting point revealed that the story was written to expose the callousness exhibited by sectors in American society who could have accorded assistance and reform at that time: political structure and ideology, religious factions and doctrines, as well as socio-cultural practitioners who allegedly were experts on equality, justice, and freedom. It was depressing that society had to see the relevant racial concerns through the characterization of Phoenix to recognize and acknowledge that freedom from bondage, suffrage, discrimination, had to be fought by someone too old; yet still courageous and selfless to fight the battle to the end. Works Cited Bethea, D. "Phoenix Has No Coat: Historicity, Eschatology, and Sins of Omission in Eudora Weltys "A Worn Path"." 2001. The International Fiction Review. http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/ifr/article/view/7689/8746. 4 July 2014. "Black Peoples of America - The Ku Klux Klan." 10 August 2012. History on the Net. http://www.historyonthenet.com/Slave_Trade/kukluxklan.htm. 4 July 2014. Delaney. "Daily life of the avergage African American in the 1940s." n.d. americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.com. http://americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.com/p/daily-life-of-avergage-african-american.html. 4 July 2014. —. "Role of women during the 1940s." n.d. americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.com. http://americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.com/p/role-of-women-during-1940s.html. 4 July 2014. "The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921." n.d. mc.cc.md.us. http://www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/hpolscrv/VdeLaOliva.html. 4 July 2014. Welty, Eudora. "A Worn Path." The Atlantic Monthly (1941). Print. 4 July 2014. Read More