How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #1
Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag, coming along a path through the pinewoods. (1)
"Negro" did not take on the negative connotation it has today until the 1960s. When "A Worn Path" was written, this was a term that African Americans would use to describe themselves without the intention of offending. "Negro" is the second adjective the story gives us about Phoenix, which suggests it's really important that we know that detail. (Here's the essay that many scholars site as the work that began the discussion about the inappropriateness of using the term "Negro").
Quote #2
"Seem like there is chains about my feet, time I get this far," she said […]. (5)
Phoenix does have a voice of confidence, command, and determination at several points along the Trace, but there are also several images of slavery and imprisonment in the early paragraphs of the story that recall the path's connection to slavery. The chains mentioned in this quotation are one example. Others include the whip (3) and Phoenix's dress with the dark stripes (2).
Quote #3
Big dead trees, like black men with one arm, were standing in the purple stalks of the withered cotton field. (16)
The cotton is dead because it's winter—that's what is literally going on here. But the image of disfigured black men standing in a field of death powerfully evokes the horror of slavery that transpired on that ground.