Prompt: How does setting (both physical and historical) contribute to the conflict. (A Worn Path)
Conflict in Eudora Welty’s short story, “A Worn Path,” is about many aspects. The story is about an old woman named Phoenix Jackson who walks all the way to Natchez to pick medicine for her ailing grandson. Her grandson suffers throat complication that was caused by swallowing lye. Phoenix encounters several hurdles on her way but still manages to arrive at her destination despite her old and weary age. Notably, these hurdles constitute the story’s conflicts that the readers may find invisible. The settings (either physical or historical) where they occur enables the reader to understand how the writer develops the conflicts in the story.
One clear conflict in the story concerns class. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The poor are meant to live in the countryside while the rich are in cities. When the story begins, the reader does not know that Phoenix is from the countryside, but has a clue that she is poor. For instance, Welty writes, “She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella….” This description shows that Phoenix cannot afford a quality cane made from wood or metal; thus, she opted to use an old umbrella to make herself a cane.
Notably, the settings of countryside and cities cause conflict between the rich and the poor because people are expected to live where their classes belong. The rich people do not want poor people to go to or live in cities as they expect them to live in the countryside. This aspect is well demonstrated when Phoenix meets the white man in the woods. He asks her where she is going, and she replies, “…. I going to town.” Phoenix’s response seems to agitate him, and he tries to discourage her from proceeding with her journey. However, Phoenix remains adamant about going to town, making the white man make fun of her. He says, “I know you old colored people! Wouldn’t miss going to town to see Santa Claus!” (Welty). His remarks sound more racist, but they mean that poor people, who are mostly colored people, have no serious business in going to town. His view about the Phoenix going to town indicates the large rift between the rich and the poor.
Another great example that shows how countryside and town settings are causing conflict between the rich and the poor is when Phoenix asks a woman to help her tie her shoelaces after she arrives at Natchez. All through her journey, she had not been concerned with her untied shoelaces. However, she becomes more concerned when she arrives at the town to the point that she stops a wealthy-looking woman to help her tie them. She says, “Do all right for out in the country, but wouldn’t look right to go in a big building” (Welty). Here, “big building” symbolizes cities and towns. She means that her untied shoelaces would be okay in the countryside, but they are embarrassing in the city. Her remarks show a significant disparity between the rich and the poor. The poor, who live in the countryside, are less concerned with grooming like it is with the case with the presumably rich city people. The preferences difference portrayed in the scene shows how the rich and the poor in the story will never get along.
The conflict of social class in the story is promoted by the differences between the countryside and the city. Each class (rich and poor) is bound to stay in their territories. The poor people are unwelcomed in the city, and vice versa. Moreover, the characters’ perspectives of other classes are shaped by their homes (towns or cities); thus, they can escape from conflicting with each other.
Work Cited
Welty, Eudora. “A Worn Path.” The Atlantic, 1941. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1941/02/a-worn-path/376236/. Accessed Sept. 26, 2021.
