Reading this kind of imagery, one gets the picture of a penguin, moving forward more by accident because of their vigorous rocking instead of because they’re actually walking. Her movements are not graceful as she moves “a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum” and “she carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella” (p. She is described as “an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag” (p. When she is first seen, Phoenix Jackson does not seem to be a very important or very imposing character. Through symbolic imagery and careful organization, Welty is able to present Phoenix Jackson in loving detail as a fully fledged human being rather than simply as a character. By the end of the story, the character Phoenix Jackson is seen as a fully developed human being despite the short space of time in which she is introduced. The idea that he is always sick is made clear in Phoenix’s intimate knowledge of the path she walks while the idea that she makes this trip for love is shown in her thoughts of him.
Not until the end does Welty tell us that Phoenix is making this difficult trip in order to get the medicine her chronically-ill grandson needs in order to breathe. All of this is understood to have contributed to the character of the woman who shuffles her way to town. Introduced as simply an old woman, bent over, using a walking stick and wearing funny clothes, Phoenix’s character is brought out in intimate detail through the imagery of her journey since many of the physical things she passes are symbolic of the journey she’s taken through life and the journey her race has taken through its history in America. Eudora Welty provides a beautiful portrayal of love and sacrifice as she tells the story of Phoenix Jackson and the long walk she takes in “A Worn Path.” The entire action of the story is this old black woman’s walk through mostly empty country to arrive at a small town decorated for Christmas.
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