Literary Criticism Featuring Welty's Fiction
Eudora Welty was a prolific writer who created stories in multiple genres. Throughout her writing are the recurring themes of the paradox of human relationships, the importance of place (a recurring theme in most Southern writing), and the importance of mythological influences that help shape the theme.
Welty's interest in the conflicting relationships between individuals and their communities, according to the writer herself, stems out of her natural abilities as an observer. Perhaps the best examples can be found within the short stories in A Curtain of Green. "Why I Live at the P.O." comically illustrates the conflict between Sister and her immediate community, her family. This particular story uses lack of proper communication to showcase the underlying theme of the paradox of human connection. Another case in point is Miss Eckhart of The Golden Apples, who is considered an outsider in her town. Welty shows that this piano teacher’s independent lifestyle allows her to follow her passions, but also highlights Miss Eckhart's longing to start a family and to be seen by the community as someone who belongs in Morgana. As is apparent, her stories are often characterized by the struggle to retain identity while keeping community relationships.
Place is vitally important in arguably every story Welty has ever written. Welty believed that place is what makes fiction seem real, because with place comes customs, feelings, and associations. Place answers the questions, "What happened? Who's here? Who's coming?" Place is a prompt to memory; thus the human mind is what makes place significant. This is the job of the storyteller. “A Worn Path” is one short story that proves how place shapes how a story is perceived. Within the tale, the main character, Phoenix, must fight to overcome the barriers within the vividly described Southern landscape as she makes her trek to the nearest town. "The Wide Net" is another of Welty’s short stories that uses place to define mood and plot. The river in the story is viewed differently by each character. Some see it as a food source, others see it as deadly, and some see it as a sign that "the outside world is full of endurance".
Welty is noted for using mythology to connect her specific characters and locations to universal truths and themes. Examples can be found within the short story "A Worn Path", the novel Delta Wedding, and the collection of short stories The Golden Apples. In "A Worn Path", the character Phoenix has much in common with the mythical bird. Phoenixes are said to be red and gold and are known for their endurance and dignity. Phoenix, the old Black woman, is described as being clad in a red handkerchief with undertones of gold and is undeniably noble and enduring in her difficult quest for the medicine her grandson needs to live. In "Death of a Traveling Salesman", the husband is comparable to Prometheus. He comes home after bringing fire to his boss and is full of male libido and physical strength. Another common mythological reference is that of Medusa, who is used in "The Petrified Man" and other stories to represent powerful or vulgar women. Locations can also allude to mythology, as Welty proves in her novel Delta Wedding. As Professor Veronica Makowsky from the University of Connecticut writes, the setting of the Mississippi Delta has "suggestions of the goddess of love, Aphrodite or Venus-shells like that upon which Venus rose from the sea and female genitalia, as in the mound of Venus and Delta of Venus". The title The Golden Apples is also a mythological reference referring to the difference between people who seek silver apples and those who seek golden apples. It is originally from W.B. Yeats' "The Song of the Wandering Aengus", and for Welty's purposes, serves to illuminate the two types of attitudes people, specifically her characters, can take about life.
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