A Worn Path by Eudora Welty

   This is a short story about an old African-American woman,Phoenix Jackson,and her journey through the woods into town.It is a fiction story set in Mississippi during the 1940's.She lives in the pine woods and faces the challenging experience of walking through the snowy frozen earth to get to the hospital in the city of Natchez.She makes this journey to get medicine for her grandson even though she faces obstacles and encounters.Phoenix would usually have her head tied in a red rag,and carry a small cane made from an umbrella to help her walk along.She wore a dark striped dress,and an apron with a full pocket.Phoenix would walk with her shoelaces untied and had cataracts over her eyes which made it hard for her to see.On her journey she comes across a white hunter and his dog who helps her out of a ditch but patronizes her and bullies her because she s an older African-American woman.Through these conversations, the author shows how some whites regarded blacks.The name Phoenix means a mythical bird,the only one of it kind that burns up and another one rise from the ashes.Phoenix decides to buy her grandson a windmill made of paper with the two nickels she has.In this short story there is also responsibility,love,guilt,and resurrection.