"A Worn Path"(Eudora Welty)
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In her short story "A Worn Path," Eudora Welty tells the story of one old woman in a way that from the beginning raises questions which engender suspense in what is really a simple tale made more complex by the characterization and by the way information is revealed in the course of the story. Symbolism is used to extend the meaning and convey attiutdes and ideas by analogy. The title itself sets the tone, for the reader can see that the actions of the old woman have been taken before, that this is the worn path referred to, and that what is important is why that path is worn. The author tells the story primarily from the point of view of the old woman: The setting is the 'worn path' of the ancient Natchez Trace, and the story presents the greatest myths in the context of a folk tradition (Appel 137). The old woman keeps her own secrets and her own counsel, and it is necessary that her background be revealed by a different source. The nurse serves that function. Eudora Welty was born in the South of this story, in Jackson, Mississippi, and she spent nearly her entire life there. She offers a more tranquil view of the South than, say, William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor. In her fiction, she tends to celebrate her characters' small victories, and this is evident in "A Worn Path" where the ability of this old woman to make her way some distance through a rural area to the town in order to get medicine for her grandson is depicted as a triumphant act. Welty does not
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r cane, and the buzzard that blocks her path. She encounters one human being who turns out to be a scarecrow, and she can barely discern this until she is right on top of the figure because her eyes are so old. She takes it for a man, and she takes it for a ghost, a symbol of the past and perhaps her future. On this journey, the old woman challenges nature, the spirit, and man in the form of the hunter who may or may not symbolize a threat. She is like the big black dog--she is not scared of anybody, and the dog symbolizes her lack of fear--and the man lets her go on her way once he sees that she has no fear. With her every step, she faces death and wins not because she avoids death but because she accepts it: "Life is a journey toward death, because one must die in order that life may go on" (Isaacs 81).
The author describes this journey in considerable detail, and the setting of the forest and environs is vital to the effect. The old woman has been this road many times, and she knows every thicket and every bush, and the road itself symbolizes her road through life, a life that is as long as this journey. The author as well describes nearly every blade of grass on the trip, relating each to the efforts of the old woman a
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Approximate Word count = 1537
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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