Реферат: Conflict In Eudora Welty

The next conflict that plagued her is that of her health. In the

preceding quotation, there was one important note that readers should

take into consideration. The fact that she kept persistently tapping the

earth in front of her could only indicate one thing?that she was

visually impaired. She may not have been completely blind, but she had

to have been substantially impaired to have kept tapping her cane in a

redundant manner. Someone who is even remotely visually impaired should

not be traveling in the forest. Phoenix also suffered from a problem

that often plagues people at an old age. This problem is senility.

“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,” (paragraph 15).

This was just one out of many instances in the story where Phoenix

talked to herself and had

hallucinations. Talking to one?s self in the forest is a definite sign

of senility. Phoenix did not allow her two disabilities to get in her

way, but had society cared for her properly she would have been in an

institution for the elderly. As for her grandson?s health, the readers

know that he also, was not doing well. The only pertinent information

given was that he “swallowed lye,” (paragraph 91). He, also, should have

been receiving professional care. An American society in the nineteen

forty?s did not provide free health care, and that sets up the final

conflict, the state of poverty of Phoenix Jackson.

“It?s Christmas time, Grandma,” said the attendant. “Could I give you a

few pennies out of my purse?”

“Five pennies is a nickel,” said Phoenix stiffly,” (paragraph 100)

This quotation, a conversation between Phoenix and the attendant at the

medical building, came after Phoenix had arrived at the doctor?s office