Summary of Sykes Review of Welty's "A Worn Path"
Sykes, Dennis J. “Welty 's THE WORN PATH.” Explicator Vol. 56, Issue 3 (1998): 151. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 30 July 2013
Sykes’s Analysis of Welty 's “The Worn Path” In this article, Dennis J. Sykes offers an analysis of Eudora Welty 's “A Worn Path.” The story relates the adventures of protagonist Phoenix Jackson, an ancient black woman, around 100 years old, according to Sykes, who undertakes a long and arduous journey from her outlying home to the nearest town. The story is set in the post Civil War South and is full of symbols of the struggles of newly freed blacks to persevere in the struggle for equality despite the obstacles. In his introduction, Sykes compares Phoenix Jackson with the blind prophet in T.S. Eliot 's epic poem “The Waste Land.” He notes that Tiresias “serves as a medium through which characters can transform themselves, a character who links both past events and future occurrences” for Eliot. He goes on to explain that Jackson herself is somewhat of a “blind seer of sorts” and through her, and the journey she must make, Welty illustrates the theme of “impending black equality and amalgamation in the South after the Civil War.” Sykes asserts that Phoenix Jackson 's thoughts and perceptions, along with her encounters with others along the way help to mirror the “Southern black 's transformation from slave to citizen.” The first trait Sykes mentions about Phoenix Jackson is her perseverance. Jackson has obviously made this journey before, and realizes although “worn,” the path still presents risk to her. Sykes writes of her pleading with a higher being to keep the wild hogs out of her path, as she has a long way to go. The path she must struggle to follow is a parallel, according to Sykes, to the plight of Southern blacks after the Civil War. Legally free thanks to the Thirteenth Amendment, their place in society was still uncertain, he points out in his review. Like Phoenix Jackson, they struggled endlessly “if
Sykes’s Analysis of Welty 's “The Worn Path” In this article, Dennis J. Sykes offers an analysis of Eudora Welty 's “A Worn Path.” The story relates the adventures of protagonist Phoenix Jackson, an ancient black woman, around 100 years old, according to Sykes, who undertakes a long and arduous journey from her outlying home to the nearest town. The story is set in the post Civil War South and is full of symbols of the struggles of newly freed blacks to persevere in the struggle for equality despite the obstacles. In his introduction, Sykes compares Phoenix Jackson with the blind prophet in T.S. Eliot 's epic poem “The Waste Land.” He notes that Tiresias “serves as a medium through which characters can transform themselves, a character who links both past events and future occurrences” for Eliot. He goes on to explain that Jackson herself is somewhat of a “blind seer of sorts” and through her, and the journey she must make, Welty illustrates the theme of “impending black equality and amalgamation in the South after the Civil War.” Sykes asserts that Phoenix Jackson 's thoughts and perceptions, along with her encounters with others along the way help to mirror the “Southern black 's transformation from slave to citizen.” The first trait Sykes mentions about Phoenix Jackson is her perseverance. Jackson has obviously made this journey before, and realizes although “worn,” the path still presents risk to her. Sykes writes of her pleading with a higher being to keep the wild hogs out of her path, as she has a long way to go. The path she must struggle to follow is a parallel, according to Sykes, to the plight of Southern blacks after the Civil War. Legally free thanks to the Thirteenth Amendment, their place in society was still uncertain, he points out in his review. Like Phoenix Jackson, they struggled endlessly “if
Cited: Sykes, Dennis J. “Welty 's THE WORN PATH.” Explicator Vol. 56, Issue 3 (1998): 151. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 30 July 2013