“A Worn Path” is a short story that was written by Eudora Weltey. This story was about a little old black lady named Phoenix Jackson who lived way back in the piney woods with her grandson. And every time he ran out of his medication, she would walk a long journey to the nearest town to the clinic to get it for him. There are different types of symbolism portrayed in this story, one of which would be phoenix bird symbolism. There weren”t many examples of this type of symbolism in the story but one was when she sees in the horizon what appears to be a tall skinny one armed black man, dancing in the wind.
As she got closer to it she thought it was a ghost and then she finally realized that it was a scarecrow, dancing in the wind. After she realized this she said she would dance with him in the wind. Another form of phoenix bird symbolism is when she speaks to all of the animals in the forest telling them not to interrupt her journey and not get underneath her feet while she is walking. Another type of symbolism portrayed in the story would be Christian symbolism. Now Christian symbolism, can just be an act of kindness, on example is the white man that she runs into on the way, who tells her to go back home and not go to town.
Another is when she asks the woman in town to tie her shoes and the woman does. Also when the bird flies over her and the white man’s head she says god is watching her because she stole his nickel that fell out of his pocket. When she gets to the clinic they give her the medicine for her grandson and tell her that it’s Christmas time and ask her if she would like for them to give her some change. She replies with “five pennies is a nickel,” they give her a nickel and she returns the favor by giving them the nickel she picked up off of the ground. These are some of the forms of symbolism, from Eudora Weltey’s story “A Worn Path. “
