It comes in many shapes and forms and lives among all people. It can do strange things, but through love anything can be accomplished. Love is one of the most powerful feelings and with love, one can overcome and do things never thought possible. In Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path", Phoenix Jackson uses the power and strength of love to overcome many physical and mental obstacles.
When walking the long path towards town, Phoenix Jackson comes across the obstacle of her physical being. She is very old and her sight is bad, but still she trudges on using an umbrella as her cane. Many obstacles tried her. One such described by Welty as, "a barbed wire fence. There she had to creep and crawl(88)". That is one of the many things that tried the old woman, but still she trudged on. Phoenix had a bad memory which was demonstrated in the story when she is at the doctors office and the nurses are asking her questions about her grandson and she does not answer. "My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip(91)." That quote demonstrated that Phoenix had a bad memory, but even though she did, she still finished the long trip to town. The love for her grandson kept her going.
Welty portrayed Jackson's strength in many ways. At first though, she made a point to show just how old Jackson was. An example of this being, "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(87)". She showed us this to magnify Jackson's strength. Because Jackson was so old, the long trip she had to make seems that much harder and longer. When she starts to focus more on the things Jackson had to do, she gives Jackson more stability. Once example Welty gives us is, "Lifting her skirt, leveling her cane fiercely before her, like a festival figure in some parade, she began to march across(88)".