worn path
... In the short story, “A Worn Path”, Welty provides the reader with rich detail and vivid imagery. ... Given all these detailed descriptions about her appearance and the path she took, the name, Phoenix Jackson held the most importance and retold the story through an ancient Egyptian myth. ... The myth says that every five hundred years the bird would take flight down a long dark path to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on the altar and rose from its ashes, young and beautiful. ... This bird with its very detailed color and appearance traveled a worn path that had been traveled before. ... Phoenix also wears, “her head tied in a red rag, coming along a path in through the pinewoods. ... Not only do these descriptions fit that of the birds but the ‘numberless branching wrinkles’ represent the long branching path Phoenix took for her grandson. ... Phoenix Jackson traveled her worn path on a cold December morning. ... It was the end of every five hundred years that the Phoenix traveled his worn path to Heliopolis. ... “ The path ran up a hill, ‘Seem like is chains about my feet, time I get this far,’ she said, in the voice of argument old people keep to use with themselves. ... The story’s title “A Worn Path” represents not only Jackson’s path but the Phoenix’s as well. The path is ‘worn’ because it has been traveled many times. ... This meant that the Phoenix had probably traveled his path to Heliopolis many times to keep the life of her species going. ... Each time Phoenix failed she experienced a small death, but each time she was reincarnated and kept along the path. To the reader, the path, like her skin seemed to be branched out and never ending. ... The reader knows that Phoenix Jackson must now turn around and go back through that same path she took to get there.