Literary Analysis
You can paste this url in your browser or you can google the title of the story (“A Worn Path”) so you can read it before you read my example of analysis.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1941/02/a-worn-path/376236/
Sample Analysis
In Eudora Welty’s story, “A Worn Path,” Phoenix Jackson’s journey reminds the reader of the power of love and determination. “On she went. The woods were deep and still.”
During her trip, Phoenix finds the woods dark and frightening, yet her encounters with the buzzard, the scarecrow, black dog, and the white man do not deter her. She shows bravado toward the buzzard, then mistakes the scarecrow for a ghost. The black dog only pushes her into a ditch. Even though she needs the hunter to help her out of the ditch, these encounters show her resilience.
When the hunter assists Phoenix, he seems to be doing a kindness. Soon, however, it is clear that he’s condescending about the need for her journey when he assumes she’s going to town to see Santa Claus. Then he becomes threatening when he points his gun at her. The actions of the hunter reveal the dark side of the world Phoenix lives in where the life of an old black woman is not respected.
Once she arrives in town, Phoenix successfully obtains the medicine. The nurse confirms for the reader that the grandson is probably dead. It’s unlikely a child could survive the injury described in the story for two or three years. Also, in the woods, Phoenix confuses fantasy with reality when she speaks to a boy with a slice of marble cake. He is a vision. In town, Phoenix initially refuses to answer the nurse when asked if her grandson is dead. Later, Phoenix says, “I remembers so plain now. I not going to forget him again, no, the whole enduring time.” If the grandson is alive, why would Phoenix have to work so hard to remember him?
Nickels from the attendant and the hunter give Phoenix the means to buy the toy windmill which represents joy and wonder for the grandson. “He going to find it hard to believe there is such a thing in the world.” The truth is, the story reminds the reader to believe that there is such a powerful thing as love in the world, the love of Phoenix for her grandson.