She is forced to steal from strangers and accept welfare, money and prescription medicine from the nurses at the hospital. Foremost, the elderly lady is extremely poor.
Phoenix Jackson, in Welty?s ?A Worn Path? must battle the physical and mental challenges as she travels to Natchez to obtain medicine for her beloved grandson.Īside from the internal pressures of old age, Phoenix Jackson is battling external socio-economic pressures. I too old, I the oldest people I ever know? (117). Upon this realization, the aged woman acknowledges her decreasing mental capabilities. As she continues to approach the unknown object, she realizes that she encountered a scarecrow. For example, in the woods, the elderly woman approaches an ominous figure that she is unable to identify. Jackson has lost her perception and memory. All of these social factors are eroding her mind. The protagonist is consumed with grief regarding her economic hardship, grandson?s failing health and the blatant racism. In addition to her physical deterioration, Phoenix Jackson is struggling with senility and mental fatigue. Phoenix Jackson?s, in ?A Worn Path,? physical limitations eluded to the difficulties she faces throughout her journey. The character does not have ample dexterity or flexibility thus, maneuvering through the lush woods is time-consuming, challenging and strenuous. Her fragility is further emphasized as she earnestly tries to journey through the woods ad a barb wired fence.
Jackson is personified as an aging tree in. ?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? (116). Welty conveys her age by comparing Phoenix to a tree. In ?A Worn Path,? Phoenix Jackson?s physical age inhibits both her journey through the woods and life.
Welty conveys this these hardships by giving the reader insight into the physical health, the mental health, and the socio-economic status of Jackson. In ?A Worn Path? we learn of the hardships Jackson faces on her weekly journey for medicine to sooth the pain of her grandson. Through the character of Phoenix Jackson in ?A Worn Path? Welty produces a picture of an aging African-American woman in the Jim Crow South. Don?t let none of those come running my direction. ?Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!? Keep the big wild hogs out of my path.
0 kommentar(er)
