a visit of charity character analysis

• Eudora Welty: Short Stories Summary

by Eudora Welty

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Timothy Sexton

“A Piece of News”

A semi-literate, uneducated and isolated wife named Ruby Fisher manages to work out the words in a newspaper: “Mrs. Ruby Fisher had the misfortune to be shot in the leg by her husband this week.” Ignorance and backwoods superstition cause her to become frightened and confused.

“A Visit of Charity”

In the 1930’s, a teenage girl visits a nursing home in order to earn Campfire Girl points for acts of charity. She is led to a room shared by two old women residents in what turns into a nightmarish encounter from which the young girls runs screaming.

“The Petrified Man ”

A conversation between beauty parlor worker and her customer erupts into a social firestorm when the worker accidentally mentions that someone has identified her customer as being pregnant. That someone turns out to be a new couple in town who have rented a room from the beauty parlor worker who have also identified a man wanted on four counts of rape as the “Petrified Man” from a traveling sideshow carnival.

“Why I Live at the P.O.”

An unreliable young woman’s first person account of the 4th of July when a sister she constantly complains is the family’s favorite returns home after running away with the man the narrator says she stole from her. In tow is a young girl of questionable parentage. At the eruption of yet another argument, she finally decides to leave the home and settle 24/7 at the local post office.

“No Room for You, My Love”

A man and a woman, unknown to each, but sharing the commonality of being from the North, meet in New Orleans and commence upon a strange tour that almost verges on the romantic, but gets only as far as one hesitant kiss. The crossroads of the tour seems to converge literally at the Arabi intersection and metaphorically at all the exotic romance suggested by the name.

A young woman’s day on the beach takes off into a dreamlike fantasia intimately connected with a memory of touching the boy of her dreams in the briefest possible of way. This dream state is interrupted by a boorish family that sets up stakes on the beach right next to her, in the process intruding upon her memory so irreparably that it will now be forever tainted.

“The Hitch-Hikers”

A traveling salesman picks up two hitchhikers. Overnight, the two get into an argument resulting in one killing the other. Meanwhile, the salesman—unaffected by the violence—goes about his business as usual, revealing himself to be every bit as detached from genuine human closeness with friends and lovers as he is with the hitch-hikers he routinely picks up to keep him company on the road.

“Death of a Traveling Salesman”

The salesman in this story inhabits a more traditional Welty narrative; a metaphorical journey. Recovering from a bad bout of the flu, the salesman wrecks his car and attempts to make his way to the only house in view. Somewhat similar to a much more famous Welty story, the literal journey is really just an excuse for the far more symbolic one taking place primarily inside his mind.

“ A Worn Path ”

That more famous story is “A Worn Path” which also happens to be one of her most anthologized and studies. The metaphors begin with the name of the old, black woman who is making her way across that literal and symbolic path: Phoenix Jackson. The story is a masterpiece of imagery and figurative language all working toward its multiple themes and dual level of meaning.

“Moon Lake”

Another dip into the deep metaphorical waters Welty’s short fiction, the title body of water is the central symbol of experience which both tantalizes and terrorizes young girls on the verge of blossoming into womanhood and the male lifeguard who saves one of them from drowning while at summer camp.

“The Wide Net”

In response to a message left behind by a young wife feeling neglected by her husband’s preference to spend time with his friends, the husband calls upon those very friends to help cast a dragnet for what he expects will be her dead body. Upon returning home, however, he discovers that she has not killed herself and she discovers that he is not as neglectful as he seemed.

A story about a young black woman forced into a marriage with a much older man who is now in his death throes. This situation frees her to pursue the dream of the fast life with the raw emotional attraction she feels toward Cash McCord.

“Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden”

An exercise in multiple perspectives in which the reader’s job is to piece together what actually happened when two white men decide to pay a visit to a clubfooted black man named Little Lee Roy in order to transform him into sideshow geek with bearing the name of the story’s title.

“Powerhouse”

An extraordinary break with tradition that reveals untapped depths of Welty’s talent, this experiment in writing jazz fiction is loosely based on Fats Waller and entirely different from any expectations gathered by reading Welty’s more famous stories.

“Where is the Voice Coming From?”

Another audacious tour de force of Welty’s perhaps bottomless wealth of talent, this is a fictional first-person account by the man who assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Actually composed well before the perpetrator of that shocking crime was actually apprehended, the most astonishing thing about the story is just exactly how close to the mark the author came in what was purely speculative fiction at the time she wrote it.

“The Demonstrators”

This more traditional story also reveal Welty’s uncommonly progressive attitude toward civil rights and racism in the South. The story of just another killing of a poor black man in Mississippi is used to underline the lack of meaning that black people had in the South during that time as individuals at all.

“First Love”

Equally audacious in its own way, “First Love” is the story of Aaron Burr’s conspiracy to commit treason against the United States following his duel with Alexander Hamilton as seen through the perspective of his most unlikely cohort: a 12 year old deaf mute who comes to worship the former Vice President.

“The Burning”

A late-career Faulknerian fantasia for the senses that takes the reader deeper than ever into the already densely written imagery and metaphorical world of Welty’s South. In a break with tradition and perhaps another nod to Faulkner, the reader is invited back into the South as the Civil War drags to its inevitable conclusion with Union soldiers burning down an old plantation and thus stimulating a narrative where death, lunacy and devastation of the past force the literal to collide with the metaphorical in literary conflagration as fiery as the burning manse.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Eudora Welty: Short Stories Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Eudora Welty: Short Stories is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

Eudora Welty: Short Stories study guide contains a biography of Eudora Welty, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Eudora Welty: Short Stories
• Character List

Essays for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

Eudora Welty: Short Stories essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Eudora Welty: Short Stories by Eudora Welty.

• A Comparison of Materialism, Communication, and Connection in Death of a Traveling Salesman and Neighbor Rosicky

Wikipedia Entries for Eudora Welty: Short Stories

• Introduction
• Photography
• Writing career and major works
• Literary criticism related to Welty's fiction

Literary Fictions

Short Stories, Reviews and Vintage Miscellany

“A Visit of Charity” by Eudora Welty

A Visit of Charity ~ A Classic American Short Story by Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

It was mid-morning—a very cold, bright day. Holding a potted plant before her, a girl of fourteen jumped off the bus in front of the Old Ladies’ Home, on the outskirts of town. She wore a red coat, and her straight yellow hair was hanging down loose from the pointed white cap all the little girls were wearing that year. She stopped for a moment beside one of the prickly dark shrubs with which the city had beautified the Home, and then proceeded slowly toward the building, which was of whitewashed brick and reflected the winter sunlight like a block of ice. As she walked vaguely up the steps she shifted the small pot from hand to hand; then she had to set it down and remove her mittens before she could open the heavy door.

“I’m a Campfire Girl…I have to pay a visit to some old lady,” she told the nurse at the desk. This was a woman in a white uniform who looked as if she were cold; she had close-cut hair which stood up on the very top of her head exactly like a sea wave. Marian, the little girl, did not tell her that this visit would give her a minimum of only three points in her score.

“Acquainted with any of our residents?” asked the nurse. She lifted one eyebrow and spoke like a man.

“With any old ladies? No—but—that is, any of them will do,” Marian stammered. With her free hand she pushed her hair behind her ears, as she did when it was time to study Science.

The nurse shrugged and rose. “You have a nice multiflora cineraria there,” she remarked as she walked ahead down the hall of closed doors to pick out an old lady.

There was loose, bulging linoleum on the floor. Marian felt as if she were walking on the waves, but the nurse paid no attention to it. There was a smell in the hall like the interior of a clock. Everything was silent until, behind one of the doors, an old lady of some kind cleared her throat like a sheep bleating. This decided the nurse. Stopping in her tracks, she first extended her arm, bent her elbow, and leaned forward from the hips, all to examine the watched strapped to her wrist; then she gave a loud double-rap on the door.

“There are two in each room,” the nurse remarked over her shoulder.

“Two what?” asked Marian without thinking. The sound like a sheep’s bleating almost made her turn around and run back.

One old woman was pulling the door open in short, gradual jerks, and when she saw the nurse a strange smile forced her old face dangerously awry. Marian, suddenly propelled by the strong, impatient arm of the nurse, saw next the side-face of another woman, even older, who was lying flat in bed with a cap on and a counterpane drawn up to her chin.

“Visitor,” said the nurse, and after one more shove she was off up the hall.

Marian stood tongue-tied; both hands held the potted plant. The old woman, still with that terrible, square smile (which was a smile of welcome) stamped on her bony face, was waiting…Perhaps she said something. The old woman in bed said nothing at all, and she did not look around.

Suddenly Marian saw a hand, quick as a bird claw, reach up in the air and pluck the white cap off her head. At the same time, another claw to match drew her all the way into the room, and the next moment the door closed behind her.

“My, my, my,” said the old lady at her side.

Marian stood enclosed by a bed, a washstand and a chair; the tiny room had altogether too much furniture. Everything smelled wet—even the bare floor. She held on to the back of the chair, which was wicker and felt soft and damp. Her heart beat more and more slowly, her hands got colder and colder, and she could not hear whether the old women were saying anything or not. She could not see them very clearly. How dark it was! The window shade was down, and the only door was shut. Marian looked at the ceiling…It was like being caught in a robbers’ cave, just before one was murdered.

“Did you come to be our little girl for a while?” the first robber asked.

Then something was snatched from Marian’s hand—the little potted plant.

“Flowers!” screamed the old woman. She stood holding the pot in an undecided way. “Pretty flowers,” she added.

Then the old woman in bed cleared her throat and spoke. “They are not pretty,” she said, still without looking around, but very distinctly.

Marian suddenly pitched against the chair and sat down in it.

“Pretty flowers,” the first woman insisted. “pretty—pretty…”

Marian wished she had the little pot back for just a moment—she had forgotten to look at the plant herself before giving it away. What did it look like?

“Stinkweeds,” said the other old woman sharply. She had a bunchy white forehead and red eyes like a sheep. Now she turned them toward Marian. The fogginess seemed to rise in her throat again, and she bleated, “Who—are—you?”

To her surprise, Marian could not remember her name. “I’m a Campfire Girl,” she said finally.

“Watch out for the germs,” said the old woman like a sheep, not addressing anyone.

“One came out last month to see us,” said the first old woman.

A sheep or a germ? wondered Marian dreamily, holding on to the chair.

“Did not!” cried the other old woman.

“Did so! Read to us out of the Bible and we enjoyed it!” screamed the first.

“Who enjoyed it?” said the woman in bed. Her mouth was unexpectedly small and sorrowful, like a pet’s.

”We enjoyed it,” insisted the other. “You enjoyed it—I enjoyed it.”

“We all enjoyed it,” said Marian, without realizing that she had said a word.

The first old woman had just finished putting the potted plant high, high up on top of the wardrobe, where it could hardly be seen from below. Marian wondered how she had ever succeeded in placing it there, how she could ever have reached so high.

“You mustn’t pay any attention to old Addie,” she now said to the little girl. “She’s ailing today.”

“Will you shut your mouth?” said the woman in bed. “I am not.”

“You’re a story.”

“I can’t stay but a minute—really I can’t,” said Marian suddenly. She looked down at the wet floor and thought that if she were sick in here they would have to let her go.

With much to-do the first old woman sat down in a rocking chair—still another piece of furniture!—and began to rock. With the fingers of one hand she touched a very dirty cameo pin on her chest. “What do you do at school?” she asked.

“I don’t know…” said Marian. She tried to think but she could not.

“Oh, but the flowers are beautiful,” the old woman whispered. She seemed to rock faster and faster; Marian did not see how anyone could rock so fast.

“Ugly,” said the woman in bed.

“If we bring flowers—“ Marian began, then fell silent. She had almost said that if Campfire Girls brought flowers to the Old Ladies’ Home, the visit would count one extra point, and if they took a Bible with them on the bus and read it to the old ladies, it counted double. But the old woman had not listened, anyway; she was rocking and watching the other one, who watched back from the bed.

“Poor Addie is ailing. She has to take medicine—see?” she said, pointing a horny finger at a row of bottles on the table, and rocking so high that her black comfort shoes lifted off the floor like a little child’s.

“I am no more sick than you are,” said the woman in bed.

“Oh, yes you are!”

“I just got more sense than you have, that’s all,” said the other old woman, nodding her head.

“That’s only the contrary way she talks when you all come,” said the first old lady with sudden intimacy. She stopped the rocker with a neat pat of her feet and leaned toward Marian. Her hand reached over—it felt like a petunia leaf, clinging and just a little sticky.

“Will you hush! Will you hush!” cried the other one.

Marian leaned back rigidly in her chair.

“When I was a little girl like you, I went to school and all,” said the old woman in the same intimate, menacing voice. “Not here—another town…”

“Hush!” said the sick woman. “You never went to school. You never came and you never went. You never were anything—only here. You never were born! You don’t know anything. Your head is empty, your heart and hands and your old black purse are all empty—you showed it to me. And yet you talk, talk, talk, talk, talk all the time until I think I’m losing my mind! Who are you? You’re a stranger—a perfect stranger! Don’t you know you’re a stranger? Is it possible that they have actually done a thing like this to anyone—sent them in a stranger to talk, and rock, and tell away her whole long rigmarole? Do they seriously suppose that I’ll be able to keep it up, day in, day out, night in, night out, living in the same room with a terrible old woman forever?”

Marian saw the old woman’s eyes grow bright and turn toward her. This old woman was looking at her with despair and calculation in her face. Her small lips suddenly dropped apart, and exposed a half circle of false teeth with tan gums.

“Come here, I want to tell you something,” she whispered. “Come here!”

Marian was trembling, and her heart nearly stopped beating altogether for a moment.

“Now, now, Addie,” said the first old woman. “That’s not polite. Do you know what’s really the matter with old Addie today?” She, too, looked at Marian; one of her eyelids dropped low.

“The matter?” the child repeated stupidly. “What’s the matter with her?”

“Why, she’s mad because it’s her birthday!” said the first old woman, beginning to rock again and giving a little crow as though she had answered her own riddle.

“It is not, it is not!” screamed the old woman in bed. “It is not my birthday, no one knows when that is but myself, and will you please be quiet and say nothing more, or I’ll go straight out of my mind!” She turned her eyes toward Marian again, and presently she said in the soft, foggy voice, “When the worst comes to the worst, I ring this bell, and the nurse comes.” One of her hands was drawn out from under the patched counterpane—a thin little hand with enormous black freckles. With a finger which would not hold still she pointed to a little bell on the table among the bottles.

“How old are you?” Marian breathed. Now she could see the old woman in bed very closely and plainly, and very abruptly, from all sides, as in dreams. She wondered about her—she wondered for a moment as though there was nothing else in the world to wonder about. It was the first time such a thing had happened to Marian.

“I won’t tell!”

The old face on the pillow, where Marian was bending over it, slowly gathered and collapsed. Soft whimpers came out of the small open mouth. It was a sheep that she sounded like—a little lamb. Marian’s face drew very close, the yellow hair hung forward.

“She’s crying!” She turned a bright, burning face up to the first old woman.

“That’s Addie for you,” the old woman said spitefully.

Marian jumped up and moved toward the door. For the second time, the claw almost touched her hair, but it was not quick enough. The little girl put her cap on.

“Well, it was real visit,” said the old woman, following Marian through the doorway and all the way out into the hall. Then from behind she suddenly clutched the child with her sharp little fingers. “Oh, little girl, have you a penny to spare for an old woman that’s not got anything of her own? We don’t have thing in the world—not a penny for candy—not a thing! Little girl, just a nickel—a penny— ”

Marian pulled violently against the old hands for a moment before she was free. Then she ran down the hall, without looking behind her and without looking at the nurse, who was reading Field & Stream at her desk. The nurse, after another triple motion to consult her wrist watch, asked automatically the question put to visitors in all institutions: “Won’t you stay and have dinner with us?”

Marian never replied. She pushed the heavy door open into the cold air and ran down the steps.

Under the prickly shrub she stooped and quickly, without being seen, retrieved a red apple she had hidden there.

Her yellow hair under the white cap, her scarlet coat, her bare knees flashed in the sunlight as she ran to meet the big bus rocketing through the street.

“Wait for me!” she shouted. As though at an imperial command, the bus ground to a stop.

She jumped on and took a big bite out of the apple.

Share this:

15 thoughts on “ “a visit of charity” by eudora welty ”.

w…what was…what was happening? What the heck man i was forced to read this short story about…I dunno.

There was no identifiable plot nor lesson to be learned. How did this ever become considered a classic?

Partly because of who wrote it. Also, it’s memorable for a number of reasons and is beautifully written. It paints a very vivid word picture.

Your lack of understanding and inability to see the point does nothing to the story; all you’ve done is expose your ignorance, and lack of critical thinking.

No need to be rude. It’s all in the way you see things.

Typo: “I have to pay a visit to [sold] old lady”.

Fixed. Thanks.

Is it legal and ethical to copy the literary works from this site and give to students for study aids?

It’s all right as long as original author is credited.

• Pingback: Read/Write Challenge – Day 30 – Write Words Now

Emmm….. ok… Really confusing because it never states what expressions and ideas is expressing…

bro… this makes no sense

its really boring and hard to understand

bro I get you this is so hard to read I had to read it again to know that Marian was the kid. it does not even make any sense why even try to make this passage.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• 168,891 literary resources
• 172 content providers
• 53,470 books

A Visit Of Charity Summary and Analysis

FreeBookNotes found 1 site with book summaries or analysis of A Visit Of Charity . If there is a A Visit Of Charity SparkNotes, Shmoop guide, or Cliff Notes, you can find a link to each study guide below.

Among the summaries and analysis available for A Visit Of Charity , there is 1 Short Summary.

Depending on the study guide provider (SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc.), the resources below will generally offer A Visit Of Charity chapter summaries, quotes, and analysis of themes, characters, and symbols.

Full Book Notes and Study Guides

Sites like SparkNotes with a A Visit Of Charity study guide or cliff notes. Also includes sites with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of Eudora Welty’s A Visit Of Charity.

We found no such entries for this book title. Please see the supplementary resources provided below for other helpful content related to this book.

Short Book Summaries

Sites with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of A Visit Of Charity by Eudora Welty.

SuperSummary (Plot Summaries) - A Visit Of Charity

More Books by Eudora Welty

FreeBookNotes has 13 more books by Eudora Welty, with a total of 40 study guides.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Short Story — Character Analysis: A Cask of Amontillado

Character Analysis: a Cask of Amontillado

• Categories: Personal Growth and Development Short Story

About this sample

Words: 521 |

Published: Mar 16, 2024

Words: 521 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Heisenberg

Verified writer

• Expert in: Life Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 999 words

3 pages / 1536 words

1 pages / 2270 words

1.5 pages / 724 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Short Story

Maupassant, Guy de. 'All Over.' Short Stories. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/files/3090/3090-h/3090-h.htm#link2H_4_0001.Brigham, John C. 'Perception and Reality: A Historical and Critical Study.' Harvard Theological [...]

Tellez, Hernando. 'Lather and Nothing Else.' Translated by Donald A. Yates, Duke University Press, 2008.Zikaly, Peter. 'You have to make a choice, even when there is nothing to choose from.' (Note: No specific source found, [...]

Poe, Edgar Allan. 'The Fall of House of Usher.'Cortázar, Julio. 'House Taken Over.'Quiroga, Horacio. 'The Feather Pillow.'

Tan, Amy. 'Rules of the Game.' The Joy Luck Club, Vintage Books, 1989, pp. 158-166.

At the beginning of Boccaccio’s Decameron, both the male and female narrators hesitate to discuss the seemingly lewd topic of sexual relations. On Day I, the Florentines discuss various topics, yet only one narrator is brave [...]

Written by master realist Anton Chekhov, "Misery" is the story of an old man’s grief for having lost his son. He keeps looking for somebody with whom to talk about the death of his child. Throughout, the use of the old man's [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

A Visit of Charity

23 pages • 46 minutes read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Foreshadowing

The first literary device used in “A Visit of Charity” is foreshadowing (a hint of what to expect in the story). Marian arrives at the Old Ladies’ Home on a bright day. She wears a red coat, and her yellow hair hangs beneath the white cap on her head. She notices the “prickly dark shrubs” outside the home and that the home is like a block of ice (137). Upon entering, she informs the nurse at the front desk that she’s a Campfire Girl. The reader senses more trouble when the nurse replies in a masculine voice . The nurse shows little concern for the young girl, closing her in the room with the two quarrelsome old women.

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Ready to dive in?

Get unlimited access to SuperSummary for only $ 0.70 /week

Related Titles

By Eudora Welty

A Worn Path

Eudora Welty

Death of a Traveling Salesman

Delta Wedding

Losing Battles

One Writer's Beginnings

Petrified Man

The Optimist's Daughter

The Ponder Heart

The Robber Bridegroom

Why I Live at the P.O.

Featured Collections

View Collection

American Literature

Childhood & youth.