In the story A Worn Path the author Eudora Welty tells the trials and tribulations of an elderly black woman that travels on the same path from time to time in the countryside of Mississippi to retrieve medicine for her grandson that has scarring in his throat. Welty tells this amazing story in third person and she used the strategy of a climatic structure to keep us guessing why Phoenix would go on her long journey into town. This story is climatic because while on Phoenix's walk she is always running into obstacles that end up challenging her physically and emotionally. In paragraph 5 she walks up the path that leads into a hill and becomes tired and compares that to slavery. She says, "Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far." (315). She went through more obstacles like walking down through the oaks, getting her dress caught on a bush, imagining that some boy was offering her cake, climbing through barbed-wire fence, her poor eyesight mistaking a scarecrow for a man, and the encounter with a black dog. This is climbs to each level because every obstacle that Jackson goes through leads to the next one which builds the story and leaves the reader asking "why is this old woman going through these grave lengths on her walk, what for?" This tells us that something very important is going to happen and thus makes us want to read on through to the end. Being with that said this answers the very question as of why Welty withholds the information about getting medicine for Phoenix's grandson's throat nearly at the end when the nurse says, "Now, how is the boy?" (318). Also when the nurse asks, "Is his throat any better?" (318). Finally the reader understands why Phoenix takes her long walk into town because of a little list that read, "Yes. Swallowed lye, When was it-January-two, three years ago." (318). This also serves as another purpose and that is the author wants the reader to get to know the characters. Every aspect of Phoenix's character whether her physical or her mental traits, they are explained in detail so that you can have a vivid picture and sense of who she is. I myself had a very detailed picture of this woman in my head and it matches that of the picture of the Phoenix's character that I found online. The author describes her looks as being "a Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag", "very old and small and she walked slowly..", "she carried a thin small cane made from an umbrella." (314). Besides her physical traits the author connects us to her character through her behavior as well. Phoenix is elderly, she is positive and determined to get to her destination. She tells the hunter after being asked where she is going, "No sir I am going into town." (316). There are also moments when you feel that she might have early stages of Dementia when she can't remember the reason why she went to the doctor's office. Phoenix says to the nurse, "It was my memory that left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my trip." (316). Sometimes authors go astray from the normal pattern of a chronological order to tell their stories so that information is withheld and Welty did just that in this story so that her readers would be intrigued to keep reading and to have a vivid imagination and feel for the characters.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Blog One Tina Radstone
In the story A Worn Path the author Eudora Welty tells the trials and tribulations of an elderly black woman that travels on the same path from time to time in the countryside of Mississippi to retrieve medicine for her grandson that has scarring in his throat. Welty tells this amazing story in third person and she used the strategy of a climatic structure to keep us guessing why Phoenix would go on her long journey into town. This story is climatic because while on Phoenix's walk she is always running into obstacles that end up challenging her physically and emotionally. In paragraph 5 she walks up the path that leads into a hill and becomes tired and compares that to slavery. She says, "Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far." (315). She went through more obstacles like walking down through the oaks, getting her dress caught on a bush, imagining that some boy was offering her cake, climbing through barbed-wire fence, her poor eyesight mistaking a scarecrow for a man, and the encounter with a black dog. This is climbs to each level because every obstacle that Jackson goes through leads to the next one which builds the story and leaves the reader asking "why is this old woman going through these grave lengths on her walk, what for?" This tells us that something very important is going to happen and thus makes us want to read on through to the end. Being with that said this answers the very question as of why Welty withholds the information about getting medicine for Phoenix's grandson's throat nearly at the end when the nurse says, "Now, how is the boy?" (318). Also when the nurse asks, "Is his throat any better?" (318). Finally the reader understands why Phoenix takes her long walk into town because of a little list that read, "Yes. Swallowed lye, When was it-January-two, three years ago." (318). This also serves as another purpose and that is the author wants the reader to get to know the characters. Every aspect of Phoenix's character whether her physical or her mental traits, they are explained in detail so that you can have a vivid picture and sense of who she is. I myself had a very detailed picture of this woman in my head and it matches that of the picture of the Phoenix's character that I found online. The author describes her looks as being "a Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag", "very old and small and she walked slowly..", "she carried a thin small cane made from an umbrella." (314). Besides her physical traits the author connects us to her character through her behavior as well. Phoenix is elderly, she is positive and determined to get to her destination. She tells the hunter after being asked where she is going, "No sir I am going into town." (316). There are also moments when you feel that she might have early stages of Dementia when she can't remember the reason why she went to the doctor's office. Phoenix says to the nurse, "It was my memory that left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my trip." (316). Sometimes authors go astray from the normal pattern of a chronological order to tell their stories so that information is withheld and Welty did just that in this story so that her readers would be intrigued to keep reading and to have a vivid imagination and feel for the characters.
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