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A Worn Path


            In this tale by Eudora Welty, the unstoppable love and care of a grandmother for her grandchild is portrayed. It tells a story of sheer determination as Phoenix Jackson makes a long journey into town to get medicine for her chronically ill grandson. She strives forward despite frequent obstacles in her way that include her own failing health and the grandchild's slim chance of survival. Phoenix Jackson is "an old Negro woman" who continues forward over barriers that would not even be considered a hindrance for the young.This is a journey which she has taken before, and now "the time come around" she must travel it again. She begins her journey to town on "a bright frozen day in the early morning" in December. The description of Phoenix Jackson frail nature at the beginning of this story gives the reader a glimpse of how difficult this trip is going to be for an elderly woman such as her. But she is relentlessly determined to go down that path despite anything that might come between her and getting the medicine for her grandson. This shows that her body may be worn out, but the attitude that she takes and desire that she has in order to get the medicine for her grandson are not. She encounters many obstacles such as climbing up and down hills, getting tangled in a thorn bush, and a barbed-wire fence, buy she manages to press on. She even winds up in a ditch because of a stray dog that startled her, but is helped out by a hunter. The hunter even tries to dissuade her, by telling her she's too old and brandishing his gun, but she won't back down and keeps going. Eventually Phoenix reaches her destination, and the reason for her mission is clear. When she enters "the big building", evidently a medical facility, she doesn't speak and appears disoriented. A nurse recognizes her and inquires about her grandson who swallowed lye two to three years ago. She asks "He isn't dead, is he?" Phoenix responds with, "No missy, he not dead, he just the same.


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