Blooms Literary Themes - THE HEROS ... - ymerleksi - home

230Eudora Weltywill do nothing to improve Phoenix’s condition in life, but togetherwith the nickel from the hunter, Phoenix can buy a small present forher grandson.Until Phoenix tells her story in the doctor’s office, we do notknow the true nature of her journey. Up until this time, we, like theother characters, may have been carried along with the stereotypesthe story seems to reinforce. At this point, however, readers begin toknow and understand Phoenix as the person she is and to truly seethe hopelessness of her situation. Charity has been shown to her inonly the most grudging way, and with Phoenix and her grandson “theonly two left in the world,” it is clear there will be no one to takecare of him when she is gone. Phoenix uses whatever power she has,primarily her use of language, in her veiled resistance to the socialoppression she suffers. Phoenix, who on first reading corroboratesstereotypes, is a layered character who challenges readers’ acceptanceof these stereotypes.Welty’s skillful use of irony underscores the story’s critique ofa racist society. Dean Bethea sees the title as a call to readers toavoid the worn path of societal oppression, especially in this case ofSouthern black women. This interpretation is sustained by the ironyof the title. Saying that the path is worn because Phoenix has traveledit numerous times to obtain the soothing medicine for her grandsonignores the truth of the path: It is anything but worn. Instead oftaking a road or established trail, Phoenix traverses a cold wastelandfilled with thorn bushes. There she encounters a “maze” through acornfield where “there was no path,” an unfriendly black dog, a threateninghunter, and a log instead of a bridge across a creek. She mustget down on her hands and knees and crawl through a barbed-wirefence. What readers infer from the title on first reading only invitesus to return to examine it more closely and to consider that Welty’sintention may have been to overturn our expectations and to ask us tolook more deeply at the entire story.Use of the third-person point of view allows Welty’s narratorto remain objective, describing only the observable events withoutcomment on their significance. Though technique conveys a senseof detachment, Welty is always in control of the story she tells andcarefully selects the details she reveals. The apparent detachmentof the narrator underscores the shared attitudes of a racist society,