Friday, December 7, 2012
Walks in the Woods
In class on Thursday, we discussed the variety of ways in which forests can convey meaning in a short story, novel or play. Clearly, forests or woods feature prominently in both "A Worn Path" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." So, what is their figurative significance in both stories? How do they function as critical settings in both works? Please respond in at least 10 thoughtful sentences with citations from each work.
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When the main characters in both of those stories enter forests, they seem to enter a sort of dreamland or a sort of half-real atmosphere. It seems like they are walking through a world of unpredictability. In some ways, it also seems as though the forests represent bridges between the predictable and the unpredictable, or the real and the unreal. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," as we discussed in class, the beginning and end of the story represent clear ideas and contrast between life and death. Everything in between is less clear and more up for interpretation in terms of what is actually happening. "A Worn Path" has a similar structure. The beginning and end of the story is more clear in terms of actual events and the idea that the reader has of what is happening. While Phoenix is walking through the forest, it is unclear to both her and the reader what is going to come next, what it may represents and overall where she is headed to. A forest in a story represents, in some ways, a parallel universe of something beyond mortal conception. In summary, forests represent the foggy middle world between the clarity of life/reality and the clarity of death/ureality.
ReplyDeleteForests can represent various things in literature. In "A Worn Path" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," I think that the forests/woods represent a dangerous journey for each of the characters. For example in "A Worn Path," Phoenix travels through a forest to try to find medicine for her grandson because he's dying. Throughout the journey, she faces obstacles in the woods. It was unclear if the racist man was trying to help the lady or if she was just being a total racist man. The ladies at the shop were also racist to Phoenix. Despite all the obstacles, Phoenix never gave up. She was determined to do what she had planned. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" Peyton also enters the woods. In this case, he is on a journey trying to escape, but he also faces many obstacles. We didn't conclude if he was imagining or not, but I still think he was. As he entered the forest, I knew there was some kind of danger. I wasn't sure specifically, but I knew something bad would happen. I was right; Peyton died after his dangerous journey. In both these stories, the characters have the courage to walk through the forests, but not both of them make it out alive.
ReplyDeleteForests can represent many different things in stories. Both of these particular stories have forests as settings where the main characters are making some sort of journey. Peyton's journey involves escape, and is filled with anxiety, though eventually relief, at least until it is revealed that he has been hallucinating the whole time. Grandmother Phoenix is on a journey to find her sick grandson medicine, though her goal isn't revealed until she finally arrives in town and asks for medicine. The forest was used as a path to get to a destination in both stories. We discussed in class how forests can represent life, and sometimes death, and I think the forests may represent that in a sense in both these stories. Grandmother Phoenix was on a journey to find medicine for her grandson, and making it through the forest meant saving a life. Peyton was on a journey to escape with his own life. And in both stories, there was something that wasn't revealed until near the end; we didn't know Phoenix was on a trip to get medicine until the end, and we didn't know Peyton was dead until the end. Since forests play a large part in each story, forests represent mystery. In summary, forests in both stories represent life and death, journeys, and mystery.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in my last blog posts and as we've discussed in class, forests can have multiple figurative significances. Forests, on the one hand, can be symbols for things like fear, danger, darkness, and mystery. However, on the other hand, they can represent things like discovery or new hope. In "A Worn Path," the forest represents Phoenix's mysterious journey and hope for her grandson. However, in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the forest has a more negative side to it in reflecting the terrorism of Peyton Farquhar and being the setting of his execution. As the last line of the story says, "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."
ReplyDeleteIn literature, forests can also echo the cycle of life and death which is obviously present in both of these stories. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the narration style and other aspects of the story, as we discussed in class, reflect a theme of life and death. In "A Worn Path," the main character's name, Phoenix, is an allusion to the fictional character of the phoenix, a character who dies but is quickly reborn. Other aspects of the story, such as the clock allusions ("..with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock") and regularity of Phoenix's visits to the town, also reflect this cycle.
In both “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, forests play significant roles. Forests bring a sense of adventure and exploration to the pieces. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the forest represents hope. “He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf –saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the grey spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig,” the story says. This quote shows how thankful he was to see the forest and how, for the first time, he was seeing its true magnificence. The forest represents Farquhar’s safety and potential life.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Worn Path,” the forest signifies the cycle of life. Forests contain nature of all ages, which helps to illustrate the cycle of life. Phoenix feels comfortable in the forest, even though it is full of dangers. This symbolizes life in general, for there is danger present in every aspect of life. The forest represents both the cycle of life in general and specifically Phoenix’s life cycle. The story begins to implant the idea that the forest represents Phoenix’s life at the very beginning when it says, “Her skin had a pattern all of its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead.” This quote shows that literally, the forest is a part of Phoenix.
Both of these stories contain forests that function in atypical ways. Neither story portrays forests in the bad or evil ways that one would expect. These contradictions of typical literature help to illustrate the points that each story wants to make and ultimately the characters themselves, giving the reader a lot to think about. The contrasts between life and death were a common theme between these two stories and the forests were crucial symbols in each to show that.
The woods in “A Worn Path” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” each hold an element of foreboding mystery, and are similarly described in many ways, however, for each character, they mean very different things. The man in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has nothing left to lose, so he looks at the woods as a possibility for escape. The fate he is facing is so much worse than anything that could happen to him in the woods, so he looks to the forest as a form of salvation. Phoenix, the old woman from a worn path, however, has everything to lose. If she doesn’t make it through the woods and back home, her grandson will die. Because of this, the forest is her enemy. It tries in ev every way possible to kill her, but much like the quality of her name, every time she is thwarted, Phoenix is able to rise again and continue on her path. In each story “woods” hold some similar qualities, however, the effect of the woods is different for each character depending on the attitude and outlook they have.
ReplyDeleteI think that the forest conveys an obstacle that the main character must over come. In both stories the main character must travel all day through a forest to reach their objective. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", Farquhar goes through many trials to reach the forest, and then travels all day through the undergrowth. Throughout the story he is dazed and confused, with also presents more obstacles to over come. Phoenix, in "A Worn Path", is much more aware of her surroundings, but she too has to travel all day and undertake many trials. The forest in both of these cases is the source of difficulty and is an obstacle that keeps the main character from their goal. I think that this figuratively represent the obstacles that you must over come during life. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", I think his journey through the forest represents his life flashing before his eyes as he dies. In the case of Phoenix, her journey is also a representation of her journey through life. Only it is much more peaceful and less rushed than Farquhar's because she is allowed time to grow old before she dies.
ReplyDelete*Note: I apologize for not being able to site directly from the text, for I left my story packet at school.
Both Both stories have journeys in them, if we assume that all that is narrated to us by Peyton is true. An Occurrence is a bit ambiguous and its we can't be sure if he actually tired to escape or he just got hanged and died and these were the thoughts running though his head as he died. In A Worn Path, Phoenix makes trips through the forest to get some medicine, for a reason I don't think we could clearly identify, in An Occurrence and Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton plans on making a journey "At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction." down this road and off to his wife and home. In both stories, the forest lies before their destination, Peyton wanders through the forest before finding the road and Phoenix goes through the forest to get to the pharmacy. Though the difference lies in what obstacle the forest presents. In A Worn Path, the forest is in the way of her quest and is bothersome to her "Keep the big wild hogs out of my path… I got a long way." though the forest is helpful to Peyton. In An Occurrence, the quote "he was perceptibly farther down stream nearer to safety." shows that the forest was a safe place for him and his destination aside from his home, rather than being an obstacle, it is a haven. Though, there are many interpretations, such as that Phoenix's son may be dead and that Peyton never really escapes to the forest that would change everything, but this analysis goes under the assumption that things are interpreted literally.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Worn Path" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" the forests represent an escape to get away from the struggles in the character's lives. In "A Worn Path" the trip through the forest seems like more of an escape from reality and Phoenix feels free in this familiar and unchanged landscape. She is escaping the unexpected twists and turns of life that are harder to handle, like her grandson being sick, into a forest where she knows all the twists and turns. While Phoenix is in the forest, she gets caught by thorns, but she's had this experience before and knows how to handle it. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" it is a mental escape that runs through Farquhar's head. In the story, he is physically trapped in this situation of being seconds away from being hanged. However, the forest allows him a way of leaving all this behind and running away. When he gets onto land, he immediately is greeted by the woods, which is a symbol for how he wish he could easily be greeted with a way to escape. In both stories, the characters have a desire for freedom and a longing to have nothing holding them back; the forest is their escape and passage to this.
ReplyDeleteBoth a “ A Worn Path” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, use forest as a backdrop for the characters apprehensive journeys. The authors of both of these stories chose appropriate settings for their writing and even though they have different plots, it shows how various stories can mold into a forest since it has a variety of meanings. The forest in “A Worn Path” signifies birth, life, death and rebirth. She travels the same path frequently, like clockwork as the story says. The first page says “Down in the hollow was the mourning dove—it was not too late for him.” This alludes to her grandson, maybe when the old woman dies her strength will be passed on to her grandson. Soon he will travel the same path and he will gain the wisdom of his grandmother which is a parallel to the wisdom forest usually hold. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, in reference to the forest he was now in, “He had no wish to perfect his escape--was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.” This quote shows how the forest in this story is both hope and reassuring for the man. It’s vastness is comforting and unlike the evil we, as readers, anticipated. Both stories used forest in an unexpected way which matches the stories twisted plotlines and keeps readers engaged.
ReplyDeleteForests play big roles in both “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. I think that the forest plays a bigger role in “A Worn Path” because the main character is in the forest for more of the story than the main character being in the forest in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” In “A Worn Path” I think that the forest represents the life cycle. At first Phoenix starts going up the mountain where there are pines and I think that the pines are supposed to symbolize growing. Then she described, “Now down through the oaks.” When I think of oaks I think of a old tree not a young one like a pine. After she finally got out of the forest there was a wagon track where she said it was easy and I think it was to show how after all the troubles of life when people get old they are able to relax. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” I think the forest is a symbol for life in a completely different way. I think that is was symbolizing life by saving him and protecting him. Even though he was, “fatigued, footsore, famishing,” because of it. He was still saved by it.
ReplyDeleteTyler
ReplyDeleteBoth of these stories have the forest as their setting to which the main characters journey through. In A Worn Path the forest seems to be more about rebirth and the main character being named Phoenix which is a mythical of rebirth. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge the forest seems to be a darker place given that Peyton Falquhar is being hanged for being a terrorist. A citation from the text that I think describes the darker themes of the story is "Peyton Falquhar is dead, with a broken neck, swung gently form side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." I also think that the forest in A Worn Path could have a darker side as well. An example of this is the thorns grabbing at her dress, the dog trucking her into a ditch and the white man. All of these things happened in the forest which is why I think they contribute to the theme of the possible theme of the forest being a dark mysterious place. I think the both of these stores have to do with a rather dark theme of life and death. In An Occurrence if Owl Creek bridge the theme of life and death is rather obvious with a guy being hanged and all. In A Worn Path it is less obvious because no one dies, but I think the fact the grandson would die without medicine could elude to this theme.
I believe that the forests in these two stories represent the blend between reality and illusion. In "A Worn Path," Old Phoenix encounters many obstacles, and she doesn't deal with them in a very normal or sane way. This includes trying to negotiate with a very mean bush of thorns. Once she leaves the forest, she is back in the real world, getting medicine to save her grandson. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the point of view is objective and completely matter-of-fact. Once Farquhar makes his escape, it switches into a more traditional limited omniscient narration. During his vision, he escapes to, of all places, a forest, where he sees his wife again. His illusion is stopped, as the point of view switches back to objective, and he is taken from the forest back into reality.
ReplyDeleteIn both stories, forests are the main setting. I believe that forest represent time and rebirth in both stories. Even though it represents the same thing, it is expressed quite differently in the stories. In “A Worn Path” it shows a lady stuck in a cycle that seems impossible to break. This repetition goes on for many years in the same way rebirth would continue for many years. In the story the Phoenix is caught in this cycle of life of trying to heal her, probably dead, grandson. In the story the nurse is talking to the grandmother who is trying so hard to save this boy “Swallowed lye. When was it? January-two –three years ago.“ this part of the story makes it seem as though the grandmother is trying to keep the cycle going even though it is impossible. This is like a forest because forest go through cycles but if there is a forest fire or something no matter how hard a forest tries the cycle will break an it will die. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the author uses the forest setting to back up the theme of rebirth that he created in the way the tense shifts. We talked about how he used third person objective as life and death and limited as the middle of life. The forest in this story reinforces the time and rebirth component in the story. “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.” So in this story even though the forest is simply back up to the way it is written, I believe it reinforces the concept of rebirth.
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ReplyDeleteThe forests in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and in "A Worn Path" seem fairly
similar to me. In both stories, the forests seem wild and untamed. In "An Occurrence", it
says, "He had not known that he lived in so wild a region." The characters have no
control over what happens to them in there, as Phoenix finds out when she gets trapped
in a thorn bush. This also represents he forest as being an obstacle. Both protagonists
must find their way through it, Phoenix to get medicine, and Peyton to find his family.
But they have difficulties. As Peyton describes it, "The forest seemed interminable."
Similarly, Phoenix says, "I got a long way,". Even the man she meets notices how long
her trip is, and when she tells him where she is going, he says, "That's too far!" Both
forests represent obstacles in the character's way of getting what they want.
In “A Worn Path” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” forests are both large parts of the story. I believe they serve as a setting in which characters have to go through a journey of some sort, and have to go through discovery and exploration to succeed at or learn something. Because the forest is such a vast and unknown space, it is the ideal setting for this idea of a journey. Their journeys and trials could be symbolic of the journey of life as well.
ReplyDeleteThe forest is a crucial aspect of Phoenix and Peyton's journeys, but provide different benefits to each character. Phoenix and Peyton's experiences in the forest are greatly contrasted. Phoenix is accustomed to the forest, and can easily navigate the perilous terrain to get to the town. She's so experienced, she crossed the creek with her eyes closed (Welty 2). Peyton was aimlessly sprinting through the woods (assuming that his dream was reality) without any idea of where he was going. The trees provided him with cover from gunfire, increasing his chance of escape. Both characters saw the forest as the boundary between life and death. Peyton was trying to escape capture and avoid execution. If the forest was replaced by plains or meadows, he would've been easily apprehended. The vast and unpredictable forest gave him a chance to evade capture. For Phoenix, the woods were the obstacle between getting medicine from the town and her sick grandson. Although her grandson might be dead, she still feels the need to get the medicine to keep him "alive." The forest almost signifies mental instability for both characters. Peyton was dreaming about a grand escape, and Phoenix was trying to save her dead grandson's life with medicine. The setting was an important aspect of each character's life, acting as the defining line between life and death.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Worm Hole," and in "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge," the forest play a big role in each of these two stories. In both stories the forest represents life or death, one in each. In "A Worm Hole," the woods represents death. Always something is happening to Phoenix, thorns grabbing her clothes, making her want to stay in the woods. The forest doesn't want her to get medicine for her grandson. In "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge," the forest resembles life for Peyton. When he is running through it, dodging the bullets the woods are protecting him from death.
ReplyDeleteI think the forest in both the stories, "A Worn Path" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, it represents a conflict in the main characters journey. I think both of the characters in the stories are lost and have no way out of their conflict, like they are lost in a forest. And one other thing I realized is that both the grand mother and the man goes through a time where they space out or imagining. For a example in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, the man imagines or dreams him dodging bullets, and finally getting shot. But I think in reality he was hung. And I think that the man dodging bullets represents the confusion, conflict and him being lost. Which ties back to what I mentioned earlier, the forest representing conflict. I also wondered realized that a lot of the times when the main character is in a hard situation a forest gets mentioned.
ReplyDeleteForests are typically used as "temporary" setting, vs "permanent." By that I mean that characters in a story usually travel through them during the middle of the story, rather than begin and end in them. However, these two stories differ in the way that the characters travel. In "A Worn Path," it is a journey; Phoenix makes her way through the woods to a certain destination, overcoming any obstacles in her way. "Something always take a hold of me on this hill--please I should stay," she says, but despite this she carries on, not stopping until she is where she is going.However, in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," it is an escape, with Farquhar's only destination being "out." Being "perceptibly father down the stream to safety" was not enough, he required complete security.These two stories continue to demonstrate (in different ways) the purposes of forests as a setting we have discussed earlier.
ReplyDeleteAs we went over in class, forests can represent a lot of things in stories. I believe that in the stories "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "A Worn Path," the forests represented danger but also at the same time a test of wills. For example, in the story, "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the main character Peyton, has to travel through the woods for a day to escape death and get back home. Even though he had to travel all day through the woods, he was driven on by the thought of his wife and how much he loved her. Again, in "A Worn Path," Phoenix traveled through the woods just to get her grandson some medication. Her travels through the woods were hard and she had to avoid many obstacles including a racist. I believe that the forests described in both "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "A Worn Path" were very similar and portrayed many symbols.
ReplyDeleteI think that in "A Warn Path", the significance of the forest is that it is a place of both seclusion a cycle of rebirth. When Phoenix is walking through the forest, she knows all of her surroundings well, and is able to manuever around things such as fallen trees, despite her bad eye sight. Pheonix is also unafraid or hindered by the people who confront her, but does not seem as welcoming when it comes to the town she buys medicine from.
ReplyDeleteTying with the symbol of a phoenix as a symbol of rebirth, the forest presents itself as a place where through death, life can also result. This life can be seen through the plants that grow off of the nutrients left by the dying trees, as well as the animals that live in it. The forest is also a symbol of rebirth because of why Phoenix travels to town to buy medicine. Throughout the process of her grandson getting better, Phoenix has been giving life to her son by going through the forest, despite the fact that she is getting old, and her memory is starting to slip. In the story "An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", the forest represents a place of safety for Peyton Farquhar, and for the guerrilla fighters he represents. After he escapes being hung, its is said that Peyton flees into the woods for his family upon hearing the gunshot going off. To me, this represents the way in which he fought; by using the forests as cover so that he could easily disappear. Along with representing safety, the forest is also significant because it shows the false hopes of Peyton, thinking he had survived and escaped, only to realize his own death; for although he fled to the forest, it did not save him from being hanged.
Forests can be interpreted as many different things in variations of literature. As I said in my last blogpost, I think that two of the main themes in relation to the forest setting in both "A Worn Path" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is mystery and exploration. After reading both stories, I came to the conclusion that Phoenix Jackson and Peyton Farquhar were on a journey that included many obstacles. In "A Worn Path", the forest represents life and death, and the trials one must face throughout life in order to be successful. Some of her obstacles include a run-in with a racist man, who says 'I know you colored people! Wouldn't miss going to town to see Santa Claus!'. In the story, the success was getting the medicine to save her grandson's life. On the other hand, I believe that the journey in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was from life to death. Throughout the story, Peyton faces many trails as well, including confusion and disorientation. Unlike Phoenix, Peyton is delusional and unsure of what is happening. The author conveys it in a way that may suggest that he in fact was not hung, but shot. I personally think that the shooting was part of Peyton's dream-like state of remembrance. 'As for his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of fulness--of congestion'. Since the story is written in third-person limited at that point in the story, it is unreliable that we could trust Peyton in this state. The forest settings in both of these stories hold a great significance in how the story is perceived. As each character moves through the forest in their story, the author gets deeper into the plot and deeper into the character's feelings.
ReplyDeleteIn “ A Worn Path” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, one of it’s setting - the forest- plays an enormous role in the story. The figurative significance of forests in both stories is to be a place where the main character feels a sense of hope, lost, and ambition. In both stories Phoenix Jackson and Peyton seem to be daring people who are warriors against the world they are living in while in the woods. Forests are also conveyed as bleak, dark, eerie places in both stories. For example in “ A Worn Path“ , the forest Phoenix Jackson travels through is cold , and happens during December.. Overall , forests represent a unpredictable, gloomy setting in both stories. Forests don’t only convey a somber tone to the reader ; the also have critical roles in both stories. For one , woods act as a segway to the resolution . In “A Worn Path”, one of Phoenix Jackson’s conflict : getting to the city so that she can get her granddson’s mecidine and toy is solved by successfully traveling through the forest. . In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge“, one of Peyton’s conflicts: trying to mentally escape to a happy place despite his circumstances is solved by imagining he is in a forest . Woods also act as a place for a plethora of trials and tribulations to happen.
ReplyDeleteIn both stories, “A Worn Path” and “The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the forest is the main setting and is put in the story as traveling to a destination. In “A Warn Path”, Pheonix is traveling through the woods to go to town. As an older woman, she was going to town to collect medicine for her grandson. Personally, through examination of the short story I believe that her grandson was actually dead. And that she was still going to town every month or so to collect the medicine because she feels as if this could possibly bring him back to life. I thought this partly due to the question that the nurse asks Pheonix at town; “how long ago did he get sick? January, one, two years ago?” I thought that the forest could represent the hope of her grandson becoming well again or that through her "trials", this made her young again. The short story has many different view points on what the forest represents, and these are mine.
ReplyDeleteForests can be interpreted as many things such as a challenges, obstacles, even confusion and isolation. After reading The Occurence at Owl Creek Brigde, I thought perhaps the forest could represent a bridge between reality in both stories. In A Worn Path, Phoenix believes she's gong to get medicine for her sick grandson. Perhaps in reality her grandson is really dead and she is imagining the whole thing. The forest blurs her reality and causes her to see her grandson as still sick and not dead. This causes her to continue bringing medicine back to her home. In the Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton is about to be hanged. The story starts in objective 3rd person then changes to limited when he tries to escape. That is why i believe he is dreaming his escape into the forest. When he reaches the forest, he sees his family and tries to reach his wife, but id hanged before he can. I thought the forest was sort of a bridge between worlds: reality and unreal.
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