Research Paper on "Eudora Welty's Similarities"

Research Paper 5 pages (1773 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Eudora Welty's Similarities"

"Greater Is He Who Lives Within"

In many ways, the thematic issues which typify the writing of Eudora Welty as found in "Death of a Traveling Salesman" and in "A Worn Path" contain a host of similarities. Both of these narratives are fairly one-dimensional, with the bulk of the action and the perception of these literary works reflected in a solitary character. To that end, it may be posited that there is a fair amount of introspection involved in both of these works, which actually typifies Welty's fiction as a whole. However, it should be noted that the purpose for constructing narratives from a solitary perspective serves an underlying purpose in each of these short stories -- one that appears to run concurrently through both of them although it manifests itself in the respective works in different ways. Welty's purpose in choosing to utilize such an intrapersonal vantage point serves to underscore the conceptions of love, devotion, and spirituality that animate people and bring the greatest amount of meaning to their lives. More simply put, the writer purposefully writes from an introspective perspective to elucidate the concepts that are most important to people, and which happen to be their individual perceptions of love, devotion, and spirituality.

This motif certainly holds true for "Death of a Salesman," in which the principle character, R.J. Bowman, is ailing and is forced to spend the night with strangers after crashing his car in a ravine. This short story is decidedly brief on action -- after the initial car accident, the bulk of the narrative is largely restricted to Bowman's thoughts and perceptions while sitting in the house of two unidentified strangers in various shades of light and dark. Yet this dearth of action allows for vivid, bounding thoughts which reveal the inner emotions of the protagonist -- demonstrating that such little dialogue and action is actually a clever literary device of Welty's, which allow for introspective reflections from Bowman, as evidenced in the following quotation. "My heart… should be full, he would rush up to tell her, thinking of his heart now as a deep lake, it should be holding love like other hearts. It should be flooded with love." This quotation reveals the depth of thought and emotion which Bowman feels and which surfaces as he sits alone with a woman waiting for her mate to return. The tumultuous nature of this quotation, the imagery of a sudden springing up of a welling lake overflowing in Bowman's heart -- stands in direct contrast to the staid, emotionless outer appearance of both him and the woman. This contrast serves to underscore the degree of self-evaluation that enables Bowman to understand the more profound feelings of love (and devotion to love) that truly animate his character and provide meaning to his life. This meaning is all the more significant due to the fact that Bowman is simply a wandering salesman, with no actual love -- or person upon to lavish such feelings -- in his life.

Although there is significantly more action and external encounters that take place in "A Worn Path," the tale itself -- of an older woman's journey (through some decidedly feral if not outright dangerous country) into town to obtain medicine for her grandson certainly allows for plenty of solitude. Such solitude is largely granted by the fact that the woman, Phoenix Jackson, is traveling alone; this solitude, subsequently, also allows for a large degree of introspection which allows for the reader to gain a significant amount of insight into the character's private beliefs and emotions. The following quotation displays how Welty is able to utilize such a limited narrative to elucidate the concepts that are important to Jackson. "But she sat down to rest…She did not dare to close her eyes, and when a little boy brought her a plate with a slice of marble-cake on it she spoke to him. 'That would be acceptable,' she said. But when she went to take it there was just her own hand in the air." This quotation is significant for a number of reasons. One is that it introduces Jackson's system of values, which deals largely with love since the little boy in the preceding quotation can be assumed to be her grandson, whom she is traveling a substantial way for. Additionally, this quotation demonstrates a fair amount of spirituality, since in this quotation Jackson's perception of her grandson is largely akin to a spiritual vision -- since her actual grandson is not present (and may not even still be living). Still, the solitary nature of "A Worn Path" allows the author to demonstrate to the reader those private concerns for love and spirituality that animate Jackson and have the most profound influence on her actions.

As the preceding evidence has indicated, the motifs found in both "A Worn Path" and in "Death of a Traveling Salesman" are largely indicative of the concerns that would typify much of the author's work. This certainly was the case with the larger volume of short stories in which "Death of a Salesman" was a part of, and which was entitled A Curtain of Green. In fact, the author herself identifies how the thematic issues in "Death of a Salesman" would go on to become the general subject matter with which most of her work would deal with, as the following quotation indicates. "As usual, I began writing from a distance, but "Death of a Traveling Salesman" led me closer. It drew me toward what was at the center of it... In writing the story I approached [the cabin] and went inside with my traveling salesman, and had him ... figure out what was there.... 'A marriage, a fruitful marriage. That simple thing.' Writing "Death of a Traveling Salesman" opened my eyes. And I had received the shock of having touched, for the first time, on my real subject: human relationships" (OWB 87).

This quotation indicates that the principle subject matter of Welty's writing is that of human relationships -- the myriad facets of interactions, longings, and attempts at interactions that connect people and bring a substantial amount of influence to their lives. Welty can be accused of returning to this theme not only in "A Worn Path" but also in other works in her literary canon due to the fact that by doing so, she is getting at the essence of such relationships -- which inevitably start with a single person. Therefore, the focus of single characters and their own personal introspections about others can be understood to be the foundation upon which other relationships are based upon. By emphasizing the parts of a character's personality and system of values that mean the most to him or her (whether those are Phoenix Jackson's thoughts of the spiritual as exemplified by dreams of her grandson in "A Worn Path" or Bowman's own spiritual thoughts of his grandmother in the initial paragraphs of "Death of the Salesman," or of the loves these characters either had or wished they had) Welty is actually touching upon the heart of human nature -- which is the foundation upon which human relationships inevitably rest, and which is why the author repeatedly returned to this motif.

The relevancy of this theme to the lives of its readers, and even to those who have not read such stories or who are not familiar with Welty's work, is fairly evident. In choosing to depict human nature through the most crucial applications of the several various important manifestations of it (spirituality, love, devotion), Welty has chosen to depict real life -- through the medium of fiction, of course -- in its actual elements. Therefore, it is possible for readers to peruse "Death of a Salesman" as well as "A Worn Path" and glean a degree of insight, understanding, and possibly even prudence into the inner dictates of the human heart. Reading such stories may help a woman, for example, to understand the reasoning and feelings of a man, and vice versa. This notion is made abundantly clear from the following quotation from Welty herself. "It is not from criticism but from this world that stories come in the beginning; their origins are living reference plain to the writer's eye, even though to his eye alone. The writer's mind and heart, where all this exterior is continually becoming something -- the moral, the passionate, the poetic, hence the shaping idea -- can't be mapped and plotted." (Eye, p. 109). This quotation indicates that the stories with which the author has chosen to render -- in all their complexity and attention to detail -- are based upon real life ("from this world"). Therefore, it is not inconceivable that those who exist in that same world, such as Welty's readers, may gain some sort of insight into that same world by reading and applying what may be gleaned from such works into their own lives. Furthermore, the author underpins this point by referencing the fact… READ MORE

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