A Worn Path

Heroes are born everyday. But not all of them have to be able to fly around the world or stop a bullet with their teeth. They don't have to be like superman and wonder woman. There are many hereos in the world, you just have to know where to look for them. They are just ordinary people a lot of the time. Many of them can be parents and grandparents. It all depends on what the person does to be considered a hero, such as a grandparent that would walk about 50 miles to get medicine for their sick grandson. That is what Phoenix Jackson did for her grandson in the short story, "A Worn Path".

Phoenix Jackson is a very old woman who lives out in the backcountry of Mississippi with her sick grandson. She takes care of him because she is his only family left and he has some kind of a problem with his throat, he can't talk anymore. "Throat never heals does it?" "Yes. Swallowed Lye. When was it? -January-two-three years ago?" These two quotes go to show that even though the rest of the little boy's family is gone he still has Phoenix. She takes care of him just as well as if it were one of her own children when they were sick. Phoenix is just an ordinary person taking care of her sick grandchild. Phoenix and her grandson are the reasons that they both are alive. Phoenix takes care of her grandson, which in turn keeps her healthy because she isn't sitting around the house doing nothing.

Phoenix has to walk a very long way so that she can get the medicine for her sick little grandson. " All right. The doctor said that as long as you came to get it, you could have it." "That's as far as I walk when I come out myself, and I get something for my trouble." Although Phoenix and her grandson were poor, she made a deal with the doctor so that the medicine was free for her grandson. So now she comes on a regular schedule so that her grandson will get the medication he needs. She has to walk all the way from their home in the woods to the big city. That is a very long walk, especially since she is an old woman. It takes some time but, she does what she has to do all because she loves her grandbaby.

On the way to getting her grandson's medicine she has to deal with a lot of harsh conditions to get to the big city. She has to go through marshes and thorn bushes. "Swampy part where the moss hung as lace from every limb." "Thorns,