A Worn Path

"A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty

"She entered a door, and there she saw nailed up on the wall the document that had been stamped with the gold seal and framed in the gold fram, which matched the dream that was hung up in her head" (Welty, page 228).

As Phoenix walks her journey to town, many descriptive similies and metaphors added to the make up of the setting of the story. The comparision of the trees to black men and the tree in the pearly cloud of mistletoe added to the composition as a whole. Another aspect I noticed was that everyone Phoenix encountered called her either Grandma or Granny. Phoenix had no known relation to any of the people she encountered, yet she seemed friendly to all of them as if she was their grandmother. The society Phoenix lives in seemes to be very futurisitc with the notes of barbed-wire fence and the document in town. The society seemed Hunger Games-ish as they were hunting and seemingly contolled by some higher official. Firthermore, Phoenix seemed to dramatize everything she encountered on her walk. She spoke to a scarecrow and something she deemed a ghost. Lastly, the characterization of Phoenix at the beginning of the story led to an image of a poor, feeble woman that was attempting to earn her own living for her grandson. The grandson also seemd to be made up by Phoenix in order to attain the medicine from town.