Eudora Welty’s short story, A Worn Path, narrates the journey of an African American woman while using various elements of literature. The story emphasizes geographical elements that inform the audience about the location of the action and historical elements that suggest a period of historical events. The author also mentions elements of season and day informing about the time of the narrative. Combined, all those details enhance the perception of the story.
Since the placement changes multiple times throughout the story, the following geographical elements may be some of the most important in the narration. The story starts with a description of an older woman, Phoenix, walking “through pinewoods” in “the dark pine shadows.” Later, the place changes, as Phoenix reaches “a barbed-wire fence” and comes out to a “cotton field.” Eventually, she arrives at a “paved city” and enters a “big building” where Phoenix hopes to get medicine for her sick grandson. If the overall setting of the story was not as diverse, the reader would not have understood the significance of the journey the older woman was struggling to accomplish. However, while geographical elements tell the story’s placement, one should also understand the importance of historical elements.
Although there are not many indicators of the historical era, the following elements provide more insight into the narration. As Welty describes characters as “Negro” and “white” or uses phrases such as “old colored people,” it seems that the timing resembles the period after the abolition of slavery. Furthermore, as Phoenix reaches the town, she sees “electric lights” indicating a period after the invention of electricity. Then, in a conversation, she mentions that she was “too old at the Surrender,” referring to a historical event before the story happened. As the narration indicates times of racism but not slavery, if the story was set at a different period, it may have been harder to understand the biases towards a free black person. Following that, those biases are accompanied by the seasonal element.
The seasonal element is very descriptive from the beginning of the story. As the narration starts with the words “it was December,” the reader knows that the setting is in winter, especially by mentioning that the path in front of Phoenix was “frozen.” Overall, the surroundings on her way were “silver from weather,” indicating a cold season. If the story was not set in this season, it may have been harder to realize Phoenix’s difficulties each time she needed to get to the town. However, those difficulties do not end with the path but are added to by the elements of the date.
As well as mentioned above elements, the author is descriptive about the timing of the story. Although it does not say the actual day of the week, the narration begins by setting the time of the day by telling that it was “the early morning.” Then, as a young man laughs and suggests that Phoenix is going to town “to see Santa Claus,” one can assume that the actual date is around Christmas time. The assumption is later confirmed by the words “it was Christmas time,” with the description of people carrying presents. If the story was not set during that holiday, Welty could not have compared a young woman carrying several colorful gifts to an old Phoenix who wanted to buy her grandson “a little windmill.” The comparison shows that regardless of Phoenix’s struggles, she and her grandson could be happy with little things in life.
To summarize, the setting details different aspects of Phoenix’s journey. In my opinion, the use of each element was descriptive enough to recognize the difficulties the older woman had to overcome to accomplish her goal of getting medicine. If more readers understood the importance of such elements, then their perception of the story would have changed, as they would have realized the sacrifices Phoenix had to make for her grandson.