29/11/2010
Jeunessed’Araby vs. Vieilesse de “A Worn Path”

“A worn path” from Eudora Welty and “Araby” from James Joyce are two short stories written in two different periods but both using of the same themes to emphasize the difficulty to achieve his goal, whatever the age of the person. “A Worn Path” written by Eudora Welty, probably takes place in Mississippi during the 1940’s. Phoenix Jackson, the main protagonist, is a “very old and small” African American woman who, during a “bright frozen day in the early morning” of December, starts her ritual long journey through the woods and cotton fields to reach the town to get a medicine; when “Araby from James Joyce takes place in DUBLIN, in the mid 19th century, period with lot of conflicts between Dublin and England and talks about the difficulty for a teenager to grow-up in this city and deals with longing for adventure and escape. In the first text, by describing us so deeply the physical appearance of Phoenix Jackson, all the steps of her walk and the persons she meets on her way, the author points out the discrimination of the African Americans at this period, and emphasizes that love can empower someone to over come many life-threatening obstacles. These ideas are also demonstrated into “Araby”, and shown in both of the texts when the protagonists have to overcome many types of obstacles as discrimination that hinder them in her devotion to achieve or not their quest to bring the person they love his vital medicine.

In “A worn path”, from the two first paragraphs, the reader can understand the conflict that will encounter the main protagonist, Phoenix Jackson, described as a “Negro woman” wearing “a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops”. At this period, African Americans are particularly affected by unemployment and poverty. This fact is well lighted into the text, by the care and importance given to the dress of Phoenix Jackson during her journey. When a bush caught her dress, it is, for