worn path

A Worn Path

In the story "A Worn Path" the main character's name is Phoenix which alludes to "the mythical bird that consumed itself in fire after five hundred years and rose renewed from its ashes. This death-birth motif gives a meaningful context for details which seem merely descriptive"(Seidl, p. 53).

"Welty's main subject is the intricacies of human relationships, particularly as revealed through her characters' interactions in intimate social encounters. Welty's outlook is hopeful, and love is viewed as a redeeming presence in the midst of isolation and indifference" (One Writers Beginnings).

Ms. Welty takes an old woman, Phoenix Jackson, on a seemingly impossible journey using general symbolism and Christian symbolism. She begins the journey with general symbols of everyday life. The journey itself is like life, it has its ups and downs. "The woods were deep and still" (Welty, p. 159) and "Down in the hollow was the mourning dove" (Welty, p. 159) makes the reader thi...