"A Worn Path"

"A Worn Path"
by Eudora Welty

The third person limited point of view in this short story helps the reader to focus on the characterization of the protagonist, the old black woman.  The detailed description of the old woman and the difficulty of the terrain she traversed reinforces the intensity of her goal, which the reader later learns is to get medicine for her sick grandson.  "She was very old and small and she walked slowly...she carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her" (Welty, 223).  From this description the reader learns that the old woman is small and weak and frail, and I initially thought she was blind, though I soon figured out that she just had really bad eyesight.  The woman travelled through the woods, up a hill, in a ditch, and even through a barbed wire fence.  Something that struck me as amazing at this point was that the main thing she was worried about was how "she could not pay for having her arm or leg sawed off if she got caught fast where she was" (Welty, 225).  Are you serious!?  She is so determined to reach her goal that even massive injuries would not deter her.  She even has a gun pointed at her face and refuses to turn around.

The fact that the reader is observing this from an outside perspective inspires even more awe at the woman's actions, and her pure determination.  The reader knows the woman's condition and the degree of hardship that she goes through every time she goes into town.  The third person limited point of view and the thorough characterization help the reader better appreciate the woman's great love for her son, and therefore better appreciate the theme of the story.