Literary analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literary analysis - Essay Example Welty portrays the treatment meted out to the old woman in an eloquent manner, such that, the real life scenarios and the hardships faced by people due to factors like race, sex, religion and color can be clearly related with the story. The beginning of the story is so wavering that one tends to feel that there is no goal in the story, but at the end of both the story and the journey of Phoenix, one gets to understand the ultimate goal that Welty tried to present. Hardship, racism, solitude and indomitable love towards her grandson build the theme of the story, running their roots till the last part of it. Before progressing towards analyzing the literary aspects of the story being told, it is well worth to mention how well Welty has taken efforts to express the hardships faced by the woman in terms of her physical abilities. "Her eyes were blue with age," and "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her" (Welt y 1941) clearly express about her being blind and having to take every step with an umbrella stick. That the protagonist is very old with almost a complete lack of physical strength is expressed by the author through the words, â€Å"Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles†. ... (Dan 1973) The plot begins on a chill morning, with the winter reaching its peak in the month of December. As Phoenix begins her walk, she expresses her feelings about the wild animals that she could meet in her journey. She indicates to those animals that she has a long road ahead to travel. Although the author expresses it as a direct interpretation towards the animals, indirectly, it is also to indicate the readers that she is suffering from senility. Another example shown by the author to instill this point in reader’s mind is when she sees a scarecrow and gets afraid thinking it to be a ghost. To add more credibility to this point, the author also doesn’t forget to mention that this is a path that Phoenix used to travel frequently in past. It is important to understand the abundant amount of information that author is trying to deliver through this single scenario. At first, she tells about her physical hardships, then about the hallucinations, her long journey and most of all, her determination to be in focus towards the goal irrespective of the disabilities. Welty has carved out exquisitely the characters of the supporting cast of the story. Be it the grandson, the hunter and the nurse, their characters are portrayed in a way very similar to how old age people are treated in day to day life. The use of figures of speech like â€Å"mouth open like a littlebird† (Welty 1941), to explain the condition of her grandson, vitalizes the readers and brings out a sense of joy in them. Once Phoenix crosses the hills, she stumbles on a hunter’s dog and meets with the hunter. Despite the hunter’s helping hand, the author brings