She is a very lively person, and is willing to go through this obstacle course of vicissitudes of the cold earth: “Under the red rag her hair came down on her neck in the frailest of ringlets, still black, and with an odor like copper” (106). (106) It is almost as if she is a part of nature herself, when Eudora Welty describes her as having a tree within her forehead.
#THE WORN PATH BY EUDORA WELTY SKIN#
Although she is old, she has extremely dark hair, wears a red bandana, and has much “life” within her: “Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the bark”. She appreciates the small things in life and respects what she has. She is a poor woman, but is very neat and tidy. The darkness that surrounds Phoenix is the total opposite of her. The woods are filled with pine trees that cast dark shadows throughout the terrain. A long time ago, her nephew swallowed lye that burned his throat, and the medicine is the only thing that relieves his pain. It is Christmas, and Phoenix Jackson has to head out to the city to obtain the medicine for her nephew. Eudora Welty brings realism into the story describing the realities of being old. Although she is very old, it seems that she has many years ahead of her.