A Worn Path

"In answer to a student who wrote to ask her 'Is the grandson really dead?' Welty responded, 'My best answer would be: Phoenix is alive.' "

This question and Eudora Welty's significant response both really intrigue me. The question of whether her grandson was alive did not even occur to me while reading the story. However, looking back on the text, there are several instances in which the grandmother gives hints that the boy might be dead. For example, when asked whether he is dead by one of the nurses, she hesitates in her response because she at first actually forgets her reason for coming to the doctor's office. She then responds with "My little grandson, he is just the same, and I forgot it in the coming". The bizarrity of the situation is made even more obvious when the nurse says that the incident took place two or three years ago. In the other hand, the grandmother also says again, "No, missy, he not dead, he just te same." I can't help but to feel curious about this muster of whether or not the grandson is actually alive, but Welty's response to the students question of, "my best answer would be: Phoenix is alive," emphasizes that the grandson's being alive is not actually important to the central theme of the story. Phoenix's determination and drive to secure the medicine for her grandson and the love she shows by doing this are actually what I think Welty is trying to convey to readers of A Worn Path.