“Old eye thought you was a pretty little green bush”, says Jackson as she sits on the ground to untangle her skirt from the thorn bush. When she mentions that the thorns are doing what they were made to do, it shows the reader that even the most inconvenient of times are meant to happen the way they do for one reason or another.
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The thorns on this bush symbolize the struggles that Jackson has faced throughout her life, or that everyone experiences at one point or another. She takes her time untangling herself from the thorns, and explains to herself that the thorns are “just doing what they were made to”. While walking on her journey into town, Phoenix Jackson gets her dress caught on a bush. Welty uses a thorn bush, a young hunter and his dog, and a paper windmill to tie together the idea that life is filled with all sorts of experiences that will shape your life in one way or another, no matter how major or minor they might be. In Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path, Wetly uses minor symbols and significant characters to make an impression on the reader as they learn more about Phoenix Jackson and her lifestyle choices. While a minor symbol, it ties together the entirety of the story using simplistic symbolism to signal how selflessness is one of the keys to Phoenix Jackson’s lifestyles. The dialogue he uses with Phoenix Jackson is notably different than that that she uses with the people she meets in town, and he has an impression on her that hints towards her life and how she grew up.The third symbol is the paper windmill Phoenix Jackson buys for her grandson. Among the people that Phoenix Jackson meets along her trip, one of the more significant ones would be the young, white hunter with the black dog. Phoenix gets caught on the bush and instead of letting it hold her back on her journey, she continues to push through.
![a worn path eudora welty sparknotes a worn path eudora welty sparknotes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r63cqslu84U/hqdefault.jpg)
![a worn path eudora welty sparknotes a worn path eudora welty sparknotes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/i6oVeJhOIrI/hqdefault.jpg)
The thorn bush is one the first symbols that appears in the short story. Phoenix Jackson is an older woman and is the main character of this short story, whose ragged clothing and wrinkled face shows that her life has been nothing but unforgettable experiences. Welty uses symbolism as a bridge to connect the reader to their own inner battles and give A Worn Path a deeper meaning than that of an old lady walking through the woods. Eudora Welty writes A Worn Path with a sense of symbolism that captures the struggles and pleasures of life. Life is filled with different twists and turns, unexpected obstacles, and experiences never forgotten.