– A Warn Path Essay, Research Paper
Anaysis of – A Warn Path
This is a short story about a very old black lady named Phoenix Jackson. The story is about Ms. Jackson’s long walk to the town. She incounters many obsticles on the way but, none of them stand in the way of her getting to where she needs to go. She also displays that she is getting quite senial. She can’t remember the reason she went to the town. Which was to get some medicine for her grandson. She starts to talk to herself on her trip. A lot of old people do this to keep themselves company. The statements that she makes are pretty strong.
In the beginning of the story she walks up and down a hill. She says “Up throught pines” and right after “Now down through Oaks.”(438) I think that this symbolizes life. In which it has many ups and downs. Also she makes a reference to the type of tree. In the beginning of life you are weaker then you are at the end. So when you start your life you are like a pine tree and when you end it your more like an Oak tree. Then Ms Jackson gets stuck in a thorn bush. She struggles to get away. This represents all the struggles that people have in life. The fact that everyone gets slowed by little problems during there lifetime.
I am under the impression that Ms Jackson is around the age of 80-90. She makes a comment “I wasn’t as old as I thought.”(438) What I think she is trying to say is that she still has a young look at life. She has that “I can do that” attitude. Later in the story she comes to a cornfield. She says that the cornfield looks like a maze. The cornfield had no path so she had to use her instinks to get through the field. People get off of their path everyday and they have to use their instinks and smarts to keep them out of trouble and in the right direction.
Ms Jackson get attacked by a black dog and ends up in a ditch. The owner of the dog comes by and helps her up. Everyone needs someone to pick him or her up everyonce in a while. Its always good to know that there is someone there to pick you up when you fall down. Later the young guy ends up pointing a gun at Ms Jackson. She doesn’t move and she doesn’t act scared at all. She is a stong individual.
Finally she makes it to the town. She asks a lady to help her tie her shoes. Then she searches around the town for a building and goes in. She ends up at the doctor’s office. She then forgets why she is at the doctors and starts to get scared. Adventually she remembers why she is there. The people at the doctor’s office know who she is and help her to regain the memory of why she is there. The reason she got scared is because no one wants to know that they are starting to be unable to remember things. She is starting to get really old and it is starting to show.
This short story is about a lady that went through life and made it. This story relates a lot to the story of life. How people have to take tests to make it through certain situations. Ms. Jackson went through a lot of different situations when she went to town. She made it to town and through life.