A Worn Path

Welty names her protagonist after the mythical phoenix bird that undergoes a series of deaths and rebirths. An average lifespan for the phoenix was believed to last centuries. The bird appears in Egyptian, Greek, Islamic, and Christian mythology. Traditionally, it was depicted as a large, eaglelike bird with vivid red and golden feathers. It was typically linked to worship of the sun. As one of its lifecycles neared an end, the phoenix made a nest and immolated itself. After its death, a new phoenix rose from the ashes to complete another lifecycle.

Welty depicts Phoenix as wearing a red rag tied around her head, and beneath her wrinkled, dark skin, “a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning” (142). This description symbolically links Phoenix to the mythical bird. She is old and feeble yet illuminated by a vital force that burns within her like fire. Phoenix’s figurative fire comes from her love and devotion to her grandson.

As a symbol of rebirth, regeneration, and resurrection, the phoenix endures through time. Similarly, Phoenix’s advanced age proves that she too endures through time. Her cyclical trips along the worn can be likened to the lifecycles of the phoenix.