Compare and contrast “rose for Emily” and “ A worn path”

William Faulkner 's A Rose for Emily ' and Eudora Welty 's A Worn Path ' are stories of a woman 's journey through life , her struggles and sacrifices to overcome its obstacles and love and its tragic relationships . Among the many themes that the two stories share , these three subjects prevail the most . The main protagonists , Emily Grierson and Phoenix Jackson , although faced with different circumstances , proved to be strong-willed , determined and relentless women who will overcome any difficulty and will do anything for the person they love at whatever cost

Both

are stories of a woman 's journey through life . As critic Susan Donaldson notes , these are classic gothic tales of heroines under siege bringing attention to the spectacle of a woman . Faulkner 's A Rose for Emily ' is the narration of Emily Grierson 's life and death , her rise and fall in the society and her eccentricities in between . Welty 's A Worn Path , on the other hand , is literally a story of Phoenix Jackson 's journey to the city to obtain medicines for her sick grandson

Though both Emily and Phoenix are black , they do not share the same status in the society . They are not regarded with the same courtesy as Emily came from an affluent family while Phoenix clearly is just a charity case . Though Emily was left alone , and a pauper (Faulkner paragraph 27 ) when her father died , she was still considered as one who belongs to the upper class as she had been a tradition (Faulkner paragraph 3

Phoenix 's journey is a different one . Literally , she needs to travel from her home to the city for the sole purpose of obtaining her medicines for her ill grandson . It is a journey that is physically taxing , given that she was very old and small (Welty , paragraph 1 Along the way , she is met with adversities , both real and imaginary , and hurdles that she must conquer for her to be able to reach the city Considering Phoenix 's age , this is indeed a very difficult one but one that is overshadowed by the simplicity of the way the story is told

Her journey can also be seen as any person 's journey through life . The path that Phoenix treads , the path that she had tread , is the path of life and the story is an attempt to probe the meaning of life in its simplest terms (Champion , 41

Both are stories of a woman 's struggles and sacrifices to overcome life 's obstacles . Emily 's life is filled with struggles - to break away from her father 's dominance , to fit into an unwelcoming society and to finally find a person to love . She was controlled by her father who felt that no man was good enough for her and drove all the young men away Her sweetheart - the one we believed would marry her (paragraph 16 also left leaving her with no one . Until , finally , Emily meets Homer Barron , a foreman Yankee

However , because of...