A Worn Path
An old Black woman comes up a path through the pinewoods on a cold December morning, tapping the frozen ground with a cane made from an umbrella, talking to the animals and scolding the thorn bush that catches her skirt. Phoenix Jackson has walked this errand into Natchez many times; a white hunter points a gun at her for sport, a stranger stoops to tie her shoelace, and at the top of the stairs in the doctor's office an attendant asks her the same questions as always. Eudora Welty said she began from the sight of a solitary old woman crossing a winter field at a distance, and that the errand mattered less than the fact of the going.
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Attributes
Genre
Hero's Journey (Campbell)
Quest object (Greimas)
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Culture / tradition
Closest analogues
- 51% · 13 shared
- 49% · 13 shared
- 44% · 11 shared
- 42% · 11 shared
- 41% · 10 shared
- 41% · 9 shared