Please contrast Granny Weatherall in "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" and Phoenix Jackson in "A Worn Path."

Both of these female characters are very memorable in the
way that they are described and presented and are certainly forceful personalities.
Phoenix Jackson in "A Worn Path" is notable for her determination in overcoming every
obstacle she faces to get to the surgery for her grandson, and is described as being a
small, old woman, but one who has a great inner strength apart from her age and
size:

Her eyes
were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles
and as though a whole little tree stood in the centre of her forehead, but a golden
colour ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow
burning under the dark.

The
way in which Phoenix is related to the mythical bird that burns up and then comes to
life again out of its own ashes is made clear through the "golden colour" that lies
beneath her skin and the "yellow burning" of her cheeks. Phoenix Jackson is shown to be
a character that metaphorically resurrects herself each year to complete her journey on
the "worn path" of love for her grandson, showing great fortitude and
resilience.

Granny Weatherall, too, is a character that
shows great fortitude and resilience. The way in which she brought up her children and
lived a difficult life makes this perfectly clear, as does the way in which she treats
the poor Doctor Harry who is trying to tend to her:

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Leave a well woman alone. I'll call for you when
I want you... Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk leg and double
pneumonia? You weren't even
born.

However, we perhaps
most clearly see her strength and indomitable nature in the way that she chooses to blow
out the candle of her life in the final paragraph of the story in the face of the
ultimate "jilting" from God. Granny Weatherall's strength is shown in the way that she
is able to accept her own death and voluntary chooses to die in that
knowledge.

Both characters are therefore forces to be
reckoned with, and also real personalities that have endured much hardship in their
lives. The principal difference between them is of course the colour of their
skin.