Poverty Must Vanish, Not the PeopleOn Eudora Welty's symbolic story “A Worn Path,” the reader sets aside warm regard to an issue that will not go away and has been hidden. Poverty will never go away and the victims of poverty need help to amend their circumstances. The protagonist is an elderly black lady by the name of Mrs. Phoenix Jackson. She is on a worn path (138). Phoenix and the worn path symbolizes a group of people that are impoverish and forgotten. Addition symbols like a grandson with an illness are brought into the story to further persuade the reader to fight poverty and disregard. Therefore, resolutions need to be found that are ethical, holistic, and worthy to help these deserving people amend their condition and better their world.
Should someone make ethical changes in Phoenix's life? In story, the reader sees that Phoenix’s mind is forgetful (139). She forgets about her grandson which illustrates her feeble mind again (142). Phoenix needs assistance immediately. Furthermore, the readers perceive that Phoenix as very poor (138). For example, she bends over to pick up a nickel because she has no money (141). She walks to town with a broken umbrella because she has no transportation (138). So the proper and ethical thing to do is to help impoverished.
In story, who else can help Phoenix beside herself? At the end of the narrative, the reader learns a shocking truth about Phoenix and her grandson. They are alone. Phoenix had to leave him home by himself to make the trip into town. Phoenix has no one to help her watch him. Are not Phoenix and her grandson not a part of the whole community? Are not citizens of the “United States” considered a part of the whole? Welty uses these questions very effectively to stir emotions, bring out compassion and change the heart of the reader, as the indifferent attendant’s heart is change (142).
What can be done to improve the conditions of Phoenix, and people like her? A great improvement would be a road passing her home used for public transportation would be good a solution. A phone, foodstuff, and clothing donation would give them much needed help. Education and moving them to a better location in town would be commendable. Someone from town or the churches could go visit them to ensure their welfare. These are the kinds of solutions the impoverished need to revise their condition and make humanity better.
In this third-person narrative, the reader goes down a worn path to meet the down trodden in “A Worn Path.” The intent of this wonderful and figurative story is to influence the reader’s emotions through Phoenix and other contextual symbols like the worn path. The reader understands the persuasive hidden messages about Phoenix and the worn path. The impoverish need assistances right now. For that reason, the government should find resolutions that are ethical, holistic, and worthy to help these commendable people to make better their lives and our world. The victims of poverty do not need apathy; they need help and a remedy to make poverty go a way.
Work Cited
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edger V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall, 2007. 138-43
