Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" has actions similar to the actions of a Phoenix. Phoenix Jackson is a old women walking through the woods to get to town for her grandson. Phoenix Jackson is intruded with so many obstacles ,but she keeps going on. A Phoenix is a bird that lived forever by regenerating itself. The similarities of Phoenix Jackson and a phoenix are shown in so many ways. Phoenix Jackson in "A Worn Path" is worthy of her name through her background, description, and characteristics.
The background of a Phoenix reflect upon the background of Phoenix Jackson. "The Phoenix is a bird that, according to legend, lived for hundreds of years, burned itself to ashes on a funeral pyre, and then rose from the ashes to live again"(312). Phoenix Jackson is similar in so many ways. She is a old women who feels like she lives forever like a Phoenix. Phoenix Jackson started her morning off just like a Phoenix. She always had her cane with her so she could tap the ground in front of her. According to the narrator, "This made a grave and persistent noise in the still air, that seemed meditative like the chirping of a solitary little bird" (306). A Phoenix would always start its morning off with chirping songs. Even though they are different they are alike in so many ways.
Phoenix Jackson has a description similar to a Phoenix. A Phoenix is made up of bright colors. It is made up of red, yellow, gold, and black. The narrator uses similar colors of describing Phoenix Jackson. She is being described like a Phoenix: "A golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark. Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper"(306). The colors used to described the appearance of Phoenix Jackson are the colors of a Phoenix. Even though she is not a bird she is similar in many ways to a Phoenix.