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A Worn Path Compare Contrast Essay

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Different readers sometimes see different aspects of a story. As the rReaders, you learn about the different lives of the characters and how they fit into the story. In the novel Silver Sparrow and the short story “A Worn Path,” the reader you learns of two African American women, Dana Yarboro and Phoenix Jackson. These two women are the protagonists, and . Iin the stories, these women both overcome tremendous greatest obstacles. Through the women’s lives, their African American heritage, and symbolistic items the theme of Silver Sparrow and A Worn Path is truly brought to life. The lives of Dana and Phoenix would be considered troubled, but that does not stop them from doing what it needed to be done. These women are very driven and independent; they will not let anything get into the their way of what is needed to be done. In “A Worn Path,” Phoenix is faced with obstacles of being a woman. She is old and weaker and must travel the worn path that would be easier for a man to do, but because she is head strong she can do anything she wants to do. Phoenix can travel the worn …show more content…

In “A Worn Path” Phoenix’s name, itself is symbolic; it references to a phoenix; an animal that dies and then is reborn from its own ashes. There also is the medicine that Phoenix seeks, this medicine would be considered the Holy Grail something that determines life and death. In Silver Sparrow Dana’s beautiful hair is symbolic it is something that most African Americans do not have. It would also be considered symbolic because she is supposed to be a secret but her hair is what makes her special and sets her aside from the other girls her friend even asks her, “Can I touch your hair” (Jones 72). There is another symbolic item in Silver Sparrow which happens to be the brooch that Dana is given by her grandmother on her death bed. It is symbolic because it is the only thing that Dana is given by her father’s

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