Eudora Welty's A Worn Path

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“But love isn’t just about feeling good. It’s about doing what you don’t want to do, over and over again, if it needs to be done, for the sake of someone else.” What Dr. Meg Meeker is suggesting through her quote is that it is sometimes necessary for one to continuously do something that they are uncomfortable with doing, for the sake of someone whom they love and care about. This quote by Dr. Meg Meeker is particularly evident in A Worn Path, a short story written by Eudora Welty. Phoenix Jackson, the protagonist of the story, lived backwoods of the Old Natchez Trace with her chronically ill grandson. Having swallowed lye, her grandson had suffered for several years, his throat never fully recovering. “A Worn Path” tells the story of Phoenix’s unrequited love for her grandson …show more content…
Phoenix Jackson was an African-American woman. She had eyes that were blue with age, and her skin “had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead,” emphasizing her old age. Thin and frail, Phoenix carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella to support her weight, but “every time she took a step she might’ve fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced shoes.” The trip to town was not an easy journey for Phoenix. The town was a good distance away from where Phoenix lived. She had to set out early to town for the medicine if she wanted to be back home by sunset. The doctor previously had told Phoenix that her grandson’s illness is an obstinate case, but
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