To begin with, there are four elements to a story: theme, setting, and point of view. Each of the elements is a part of every story, but some may play a more important role in the telling of each individual tale. In “A Worn Path”, the theme though out the story is about a strong undying love an old woman has for her grandchild. According to Clugston 2010, the theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete. That's how theme is created. In other words, the theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. The author uses great symbolism in the short story throughout the entire story. Religion, racism, and true love all play a key role in the theme of “A Worn Path”; it has strong literary elements that take this story to higher limits. The story does not tell us where the mother is, however shows us how strong Phoenix is in her journey with characters making us know how bad racism is and how God is strong with her in her mission. Anyone that has children would not stop at anything to save them; Phoenix’s journey down a worn path proves it. The setting is more than just the location of the story, but it also sets the social setting as well as the mood or atmosphere. A Worn Path” is set in the rural South, containing elements of both nature and society. In particular, Jackson travels both through the woods and into town. These two aspects of setting pose different kinds of obstacles for Jackson to overcome. In the woods, she faces the white hunter and the barbed wire, and in town she faces questions that she has trouble answering from the staff in the doctor’s office. The setting in “A Worn Path” is significant in that not only does it give the story life it also helps the reader understand Phoenix Jackson’s reasoning as well as giving the reader a vivid description of what the characters are seeing. Eudora Welty gives “A Worn Path” life not only through her characters, but mainly through her description of the setting. She opens up her story by describing a “bright frozen day” in December. The reader soon learns that the main character, Phoenix Jackson, is making her way to town along a path through the pinewoods. The constant imagery and symbolism keeps fresh visualization in the mind of the reader. Throughout the rest of the story, Welty continues to give precise descriptions of every part of the surroundings. As Phoenix Jackson made her way through a field of dead corn, Welty brings the setting to life, as she says, “It whispered and shook and was taller than her head.” Without the extreme details of what is going on around the characters, the story would be a bore.
In this story it was written in a third-person point of view and consisted of a journey made by the main characters, which in this case happened to be a black woman. It is relayed from the third-person point of view, giving the reader just enough distance from the main character and her conflict to see aspects of conflict that she does not.