A Worn Path To Racism.

Paula Merino Ravelo
Literatura de los Estados Unidos: Narrativa
15 June 2021
A Worn Path to Racism
At a time when the United States had just entered World War II and the country
was still suffering the economic consequences of the Great Depression, Eudora Welty
wrote A Worn Path in 1941, a short story of racism, poverty and love for the family.
Welty, who was born in 1909 in Mississippi, was an American writer and photographer.
Even though she wrote some novels, she was particularly known for her short stories.
She loved creating stories in different genres, but she usually wrote about human
relationships, self-realization and racial prejudice, and most of them were focused on
the American South. When A Worn Path was written, there was a sharp rise in poverty,
which especially affected racial minorities like African Americans. Moreover, Jim Crow
laws were being followed in the Deep South, and their purpose was to legalize racial
segregation and deny equal oportunities between white and black people. This situation
is reflected in this short story, in which the reader follows the journey of Phoenix
Jackson, an old black woman, along the worn path to Natchez in order to obtain
medicine for her ill grandson.
In this short story, Welty depicts the reality of a black woman in America at that
time and, consequently, racist behavior towards her, which can be appreciated in the en-
counters of the old Phoenix with different white people. First of all, the old woman
walks from the Old Natchez Trace to the city of Natchez in Mississippi. In the early
1800s, the route of Natchez Trace was used to transport black slaves, who were forced
to walk from Virginia or Maryland to Natchez, where they would be sold to plantation
owners to work in the cotton fields. In other words, this worn path is the memory of all
the suffering of black people, and it is also a metaphor for the daily journey of a colored
person, like Phoenix Jackson, during the 1940s in the United States. As Neil D. Isaacs
argues in his work entitled "Life for Phoenix", "In fact, the whole meaning of 'A Worn
Path' will rely on an immediate recognition of the ecuation—the worn path equals the
path of life—which is probably why it is so explicit." (76). Furthermore, at the
beginning of the story and the path, the woman has to climb a hill and she says "Seem
like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far." This sentence, which is apparently
comparing the fatigue of Phoenix to chains, is believed to make reference to the
enslaved people that were froced to cross that same path and had no escaping, but it
could also symbolize the inequality and lack of freedom of black people due to Jim
Crow laws.
At some point in the story, Phoenix finds herself going through a corn field and
encountering a tall black figure that turned to be a scarecrow. However, before
discovering that it was a simple scarecrow, the old woman thinks that it could be a black
man or, because it was silent, a ghost. The fact that she said "black man" and,
immediately after, "ghost", can be taken as a reference to all the murdered and missed
black people at the hands of racism. After that, she meets a hunter with two violent dogs
and they have a little conversation about the journey that Phoenix is following. The
hunter makes a cruel comment and says, in a sarcastic way, that old colored people
would not miss to see Santa Claus in town, suggesting that it is reason why the woman
is there. According to Grant Moss Jr. in his work "'A Worn Path' Retold":
Certainly his remark could be interpreted as a racial slur in that it with his laughter indicates that
he believes that old colored people are easily and childishly pleased by the color and tinsel of
Christmas decorations and the wonders of a miniature fairy-land created for children. It cannot
be denied that many old colored people are childish; neither can it be denied that old people from
all races are childish. (150)

In addition, the hunter keeps calling Phoenix "Granny" throughout the conversation in
what seems like a mocking tone. He even points the woman with his gun in order to
scare her, thus it symbolizes white supremacy over colored people at that time.
Eventually, the old woman gets to the doctor's office and the first thing she
notices is a diploma hanged in the wall above her head. As Kevin Moberly let us know
in his work "Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path' and the Slave
Narrative Tradition", "The diploma symbolizes the hope of education and
literacy."(111). Owing to segregation laws, black people were denied education and
some of them had to attend black suburban schools. Besides, the attendant treats her
condescendingly and is reluctant to give her the medicine, until a nurse appears and tells
her it is a case of "charity", which can seem humiliating for Phoenix. In the 1940s,
mortality rate was much higher for black people, as healthcare and medical attention for
them were almost non-existent and, if they were lucky, they could get some medicines
as a "charity case". After Phoenix received some nickles from these women, she goes to
buy a paper windmill that is thought to represent the North Star that guided the
Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman to the North years ago in order to reach
freedom. In other words, this object symbolizes hope.
To sum up, although A Worn Path might look like an uncomplicated story of the
journey of an old lady to get medicine for her grandson, this story is much more than
that. It shows how the day of a black person at that time in America was and what they
had to bare: racist comments, humiliations and most importantly, being denied
fundamental rights as medical attention or education. If we pay close attention to the
details of this story and read between lines, we would notice many references of the
author to slavery and, at the end of it, a feeling of hope for this situation of inequality to
change. This story is love for the family, hope and fight.
Works Cited:
Moss, Grant. “‘A Worn Path’ Retold.” CLA Journal, vol. 15, no. 2, 1971, pp. 144-152.
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44321548. Accessed 5 June 2021.
Isaacs, Neil D. “Life for Phoenix.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 71, no. 1, 1963, pp. 75-81.
Moberly, Kevin. “Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty's ‘A Worn Path’ and the Slave
Narrative Tradition.” The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 1-2, 2005, pp. 107-128.
Welty, Eudora. A Worn Path. 1941.
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Paula Merino Ravelo

Literatura de los Estados Unidos: Narrativa

A Worn Path to Racism

medicine for her ill grandson.

path of life—which is probably why it is so explicit." (76). Furthermore, at the

comparing the fatigue of Phoenix to chains, is believed to make reference to the

encountering a tall black figure that turned to be a scarecrow. However, before

all races are childish. (150)

Narrative Tradition", "The diploma symbolizes the hope of education and

freedom. In other words, this object symbolizes hope.

fundamental rights as medical attention or education. If we pay close attention to the

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44321548. Accessed 5 June 2021.

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27540842. Accessed 5 June 2021.

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26457203. Accessed 6 June 2021.

Welty, Eudora. A Worn Path. 1941.

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