Vocabulary (asterisk indicates a word used in a sense unusual to some readers): phoenix (par. 1); thicket (par. 3); buggy whip (par. 3); pleads (par. 5); withered (par. 17); furrow (pars. 19, 27); maze (par. 21); nary (par. 24); streamers [misprinted as "steamers"] (par. 28); pullets (par. 29); ravine (par. 32); Sweet-gum (par. 32); live-oaks (par. 34); lolling (par. 35); puff* (par. 35); presently* (par. 36); June-bug (par. 39); bob-whites (par. 46); radiation* (par. 49); cur (par. 53); Old Natchez Trace (par. 78); bolt upright (par. 80); solemn (par. 83); rigidity (par. 83); the Surrender (par. 90); lye (par. 91); obstinate (par. 93); to put him back* (par. 94); stiffly* (par. 99)

Abbreviations: S = sentence; P = paragraph; S1P1 would be sentence 1 of paragraph 1

1.  (a) What might the significance or symbolism be of the part of the year the story is set, which is emphasized by placing this detail in the very first sentence of the short story (S1P1)? How might this aspect of setting reveal certain aspects or attributes of the story's main character? (b1) What further significance or symbolism might be suggested by the time of year the story is set, given the remarks of the hunter to Phoenix about the purpose of her journey (par. 48), as well as the description of the city when she arrives (pars. 62-63)? (b2) How might the aspect of setting referred to in b1 apply to Phoenix, the purpose of her journey to the city, and to her apparently unworthy actions of stealing money from the hunter and extorting extra money from one of the clinic attendants?

2.  (a) What might the significance or symbolism be of the first name (forename) of the story's main character? Look up the word phoenix in your collegiate dictionary. How does the main character's first name connect with her repeated journeying, as well as the purpose of the repeated journeying? How might the story's title connect with the ideas suggested here? How might the main character's forename connect, meaningfully, with any of the material in question 1, above? (b) What might the significance or symbolism be of the name of the foundation that MacGyver works for in the television series of this name, starring Richard Dean Anderson? (The series is now available on DVD!)

3.   (Structure)  (a)  The sample essay about Welty's "A Worn Path" in Ch. 3 of R&J makes the point that the story's plot or structure could be seen as spatially organized: the main character moves from point A past points B, C, D, and E, to get to point F--a geographical journey that also corresponds to the overcoming of several obstacles along the literal path. How does this structure or organization itself help to convey ideas about or what Welty wants our attitude to be toward the main character? (b) How does the story's setting--the particular time of year--add to the difficulty of the journey? (c) How does the main character's clothing add to the difficulty of the journey? (d) How do b and c contribute to themes and ideas that emerge from a in this question? (e) In their introductory chapter 3 material, Roberts & Jacobs note that Welty's "A Worn Path" also has what could be considered a "double take" structure. According to Roberts & Jacobs, how does this structure apply to Welty's short story? What ideas, themes, or points of characterization does this structure contribute to the story?

4.  (Style; Imagery; Figurative Language; see Chs. 7, 14, 16-17 of RJ8)  (a) After studying the material on figurative language or figures of speech in the literature textbook and your composition handbook (look up this material in the index, glossary, or table of contents), determine what kind of figurative language is used to describe Phoenix's wrinkles (pars. 2 and 73); which figure of speech is used, exactly? What ideas about Phoenix, her life, or her relationship to her grandson might be conveyed by any of the details of either figurative description of the wrinkles? (b) What figures of speech can be found in the short story's first paragraph, and what ideas about Phoenix, her life, or her relationship to her grandson might be conveyed by them? (c) Study the material on prose style (particularly sentence structure) in the literature textbook and your composition handbook (look up this material in the index, glossary, or table of contents). How does Welty use sentence structure in the first sentence of par. 4 to convey meaning or significance? (d1) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "hair . . . with an odor like copper" (par. 2)? (d2) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "her cane, limber as a buggy whip" (par. 3)? (d3) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "cones dropped as light as feathers" (par. 4)? (d4) Name of the figure of speech and meanings of Phoenix's address to the thorny bushes (par. 8)? (d5) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "leveling her cane fiercly before her, like a festival figure in some parade" (par. 14)? (d5) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of her resting beneath a "tree in a pearly cloud of mistletoe" (par. 15)? (d6) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of how in her activity Phoenix is "stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps" (par. 16)? (d7) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the description of the "big dead trees, like black men with one arm" (par. 17)? (d8) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the field of dead corn that "whispered and shook" (par. 21)? (Cf. the reference to "the whispering field" [par. 29] later.) (d9) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of cabins and their doors "all like old women under a spell sitting there" (par. 31)? (d10) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "moss hung as white as lace from every limb" (par. 33)? (d11) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the description of the criss-crossing of live oaks "as dark as a cave" (par. 34)? (d12) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of Phoenix going over "in the ditch, like a little puff of milkweed" (par. 35)? (d13) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of Phoenix's description of herself as a June bug on its back (par. 39)? (d14) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the appearance of Phoenix's face while reaching for the nickel "as if she were doing this in her sleep" (par. 54)? (d15) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of Phoenix grasping the nickel "with the grace and care . . . in lifting an egg from under a setting hen" (par. 54)? (d16) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the description of the shadows from the oak trees being "like curtains" over the road (par. 61)? (d17) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the gift-laden city woman who "gave off perfume like the red roses in hot summer" (par. 63)? (d18) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of the nurse's description of Phoenix's trips "as regular as clockwork" (par. 79)? (d19) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of "a flicker and then a flame of comprehension" across Phoenix's face, when asked about her grandson (par. 87)? (d20) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of Phoenix being "like an old woman begging a dignified forgiveness for waking up frightened in the night" (par. 90)? (d21) Name of the figure of speech, applications, and meanings of Phoenix's description of her grandson peeping out "holding his mouth open like a little bird" (par. 94)? (e) Which two kinds of figures of speech (as outlined in Ch. 17 of RJ8) are most predominant in the foregoing list? How does one of these kinds of figure of speech relate to the aloneness of Phoenix and her grandson? (f) What patterns in imagery can be found among the foregoing list of figures of speech, and how do these patterns contribute to the story's themes, ideas, and characterizations?

5.  Details of plot reveal aspects of character, just as actions reveal traits or facets of someone's personality in real life. Besides revealing that Phoenix is tired and hungry, how do details of Phoenix's daydream after crossing the log bridge (par. 15) relate in any way to the purpose of her journey, her socioeconomic situation, and what may be on her mind subconsciously if not consciously?

6.  Long before the recent notoriety about "ebonics," Black English as an established dialect of English had been the subject of book-length academic studies in the late 1960's and early 1970's. What are the characteristics of Black English, as exemplified in Phoenix Jackson's speech? How does her language relate to her socioeconomic class, how she is perceived by others, how she is perceived by the reader, and essential traits or facets of her personality? How does this question, no. 6, relate to questions 3 and 5, above?

7.  (a) What positive and (more numerous) negative facets of the hunter's race or racial attitudes and gender (or gender attitudes) are revealed in his actions and speech (i.e., specifics in the plot) in his encounter with Phoenix Jackson (pars. 35-60)? (b) In the encounter with the hunter, Phoenix appears to engage in the discreditable behavior of stealing. What factors--in the hunter's personality or morality, and in Phoenix's motivations for and feelings about the incident--mitigate negative evaluation of Phoenix in this incident? (c) What positives and negatives are shown about the behavior or attitudes of white people toward African Americans generally, in the short story, via not only the hunter but also the city woman Phoenix encounters (pars. 63-68) as well as the clinic's nurse and attendant (pars. 70-101)?

8.  Phoenix does not have much formal education (shown where and how in the short story?), and she does have occasional mental lapses (some of them brought on by physical exhaustion, which may happen to a person of any age)--shown where in the short story? But she is none the less intelligent. People who reach advanced age--say 35 or 40--don't automatically become senile: Sophocles (in R&J) was writing plays into his nineties, and the charming American couple, Will and Ariel Durant, were writing their multi-volume Story of Civilization (which is highly recommended to make history entertainingly intelligible) up to the time of their deaths in their eighties. (a) As an example of her intelligence, how does Phoenix manipulate the hunter, using both his vanity and machismo? (b) What (physical) therapeutic value may Phoenix have shrewdly in mind for the particular gift she wants to buy her grandson?

9.  While Roberts and Jacobs discuss some of the symbolism of the gift that Phoenix wants to buy for a dime for her grandson (both in chapters 3 and 9 of RJ8), the gift has other symbolic facets, as well. (a) Her grandson won't have seen many of the items to be found in what used to be called the "five-and-dime" or "dime" store -- for instance, a balsa wood glider. Why is the gift that she thinks of superior to, say, a glider (a little airplane that can be put together from a couple of pieces of balsa wood and then sailed around in the air)? (b) What symbolism, unconscious to Phoenix, may her intended gift have, which applies to her name and perpetual journeying ("worn path")?

10.  What implications in plot and structure, as well as other details and components of the story, contribute a sad or tragic dimension to it? How is this sad or tragic dimension suggested in the short story's very last sentence? How would Welty's having ended the short story with the sentence "She lifted her free hand, gave a little nod, turned around, and walked out of the doctor's office" (first sentence of par. 104) have given it a more upbeat ending than with the second sentence of this final paragraph? How does the short story end on a "down note," in more than one sense?

11. Students paying attention to the reading should have asked about the sentence "Some husks blew down and whirled in steamers about her skirts" (par. 28). What is the resolution of the obscurity here?