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In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty an elderly African American woman named Phoenix Jackson picks a cold December day to make yet another perilous journey to a near by city to get medicine for her ailing grandson. On the way this old woman faces many obstacles, both natural and man-made. Phoenix draws upon her perseverance and willingness to sacrifice herself to help her throughout her journey, but it is the undying love for her grandson that truly guides and drives her to her final goal. She is described as being a very old woman. "Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color run underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark (Welty 386). These all show an indication of her old age.
Also, her loss of memory indicates her old age. It was only until Phoenix reached the doctor's office she remembered why she went on her journey. "My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my trip" (Welty 394). Another character in the story was a white man who was a hunter.
When Phoenix falls in the ditch, he helps her out of the ditch. Even though the hunter helps Phoenix, he still poses as a threat to her, because it seems he did not want her to finish her journey. This is made apparent when he states, "Why, that's too far! That's as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for my trouble" (Welty 391). In addition, like her name, Phoenix seems ageless.
When she stops to drink water from the spring she says, "Nobody know who made this well, for it was here when I was born" (Welty 391). When she encounters the hunter and he asks her how old she is she says, "There is no telling, mister, "said, "no telling" (Welty 392). Again her age is emphasized when she goes to the doctor's office and the nurse ask her why she never went to school. "I never did go to school, I was too old at the Surrender" (Welty 394). Phoenix also faced physical obstacles on her Journey. Phoenix is a very old woman whose aged, fragile body isn't suited to make such a long journey. At one point when she is climbing up a hill, she states that it seems like "there is chains about my feet, time I get this far. " And yet she still trudges onward, stopping only once for a short break.
On the way down the hill she gets caught in a bush, its thorns tearing at her finest dress. "I in a thorny bush, " she exclaims. But she doesn't give up; she stands there untangling herself from the bush, "her fingers busy and intent. " After she has overcome this obstacle she faces yet another trial. Across Phoenix's path lies a creek and across the creek lies a log, which substitutes as a bridge. It is hard enough for Phoenix to walk on flat and stable ground, so walking across the log is a dangerous challenge for her.
Even though there is a large threat of her falling and badly hurting herself, "she mounted the log and shut her eyes" and crosses to the other side. Next she comes across a barbwire fence, and once again without showing any signs of fear she fords ahead crossing that too. Phoenix travels a good portion of the day facing many physical challenges that test her stamina, but the real trials are the physiological ones that she faces as she encounters people along her journey. Last but not least, Phoenix overcame obstacles involving the people she encountered. The first person that she meets is a hunter. In the beginning he seems like a benevolent character because "he lifted her up, gave her a swing in the air, and set her down, " helping her out of the ditch that a dog had pushed her into.
He even inquires "anything broken, Granny?" and goes on to ask her where she lives. But then his manner turns unfriendly. "Why, that's too far... now you go on home, Granny!" he exclaims when he learns where Old Phoenix is headed. He even starts to belittle her, trying to insinuate that his race is superior to hers. "I know you old colored people!
Wouldn't miss going to town to see Santa Claus!" he says implying that Phoenix would make such a long and arduous trip to satisfy a mere childish whim. The hunter even turns hostile pointing a gun at Phoenix just to see her reaction. "Doesn't the gun scare you?" he asks. "No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer, in my day, " she replies calmly and respectfully. The hunter sees the courage that emanates from her and decides to leave her alone. Another quality that Phoenix possesses that helps her make her journey is a deep sense of self-sacrifice.
This sense of self-sacrifice gives her the ability to risk getting hurt or even killed in order to get what her grandson needs. This sense of self sacrifice is present throughout the story for the journey itself is a constant battle where Phoenix gives up her comfort and security to go into a strange and hostile environment for the medicine. Such a hostile environment is the city. As Phoenix says herself, she is "an old woman without an education, " who has probably lived in the country all of her life.
The city is a foreign and intimidating place to her, but she ventures in for the sake of her grandson. Phoenix Jackson draws upon her immense love for her ailing grandson to produce perseverance, resourcefulness and willingness to live that otherwise would never be there. The greatest example of this comes at the end of the story, when Phoenix has reached the doctor's office. At this point Phoenix has been challenged physically, emotionally and physiologically and she is worn out. She is on the brink of collapse when she reaches the doctor's office and the only thought that fills her mind is that she has made it. So, when the attendant in the doctor's office asks her why she has come, Phoenix completely blank...
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