The True Meaning of Charity

Wikipedia defines charity as the practice of benevolent giving and care. In Eudora Welty's A Visit of Charity, there is a strong argument of what the true meaning of charity is. The short story consists of a Campfire girl named Marian who has to visit a nursing home for points. In the beginning of the story, Welty shows the audience that Marian really does not want to go visit the elderly. Once she arrives, she comes in contact with a nurse. Marian describes the nurse as resembling a man, and once the nurse begins talking, she refers to everything being cold and muggy. As Marian and the nurse approach the old ladies room, Marian's anxiety escalates. When Marian enters into the room, Addie, the somewhat nice old lady greets her while the mean lady in the bed silently lies there.

Charity is perceived as a gift from the heart. In A Visit of Charity, the subject of what is the true meaning of charity surfaces. In this short story, charity is portrayed as an offer and receive situation instead of only giving. Most people associate charity with other words such as compassion, goodwill, sympathy, and most important, love. When Marian goes into the nursing home, none of those words were expressed in her thoughts. Instead of Marian treating the old ladies like actual people and accepting their circumstance with an open mind, she walked into the situation with a judgmental heart. There is a form of irony identified in the beginning of the story because if Marian is only visiting the ladies for points, then it is not really considered as charity, but on the other hand, Welty could have been using a form of sarcasm.

Towards the end of A Visit of Charity, there is a sense of change in Marian's attitude. She seems to let her guard down and become friendlier towards the old ladies. In that case, where is Marian's heart really at? At first it seems as if Marian heart was not sincere in visiting the old ladies, but it seems that at the end, she a little sympathy for them. Her having sympathy for the ladies can be symbolic for the fact that she is now aware of "real world." Even though Marian's visit was not really a visit of actual charity in the first place, we cannot fault her for her attitude towards the visit. She was placed in an unfamiliar setting which was out of her comfort zone. Marian probably acted the way she did towards the visit because she was uncomfortable, so in actuality, who should we really feel sorry for, her or the old ladies?

When charity is involved, love is involved. In A Visit of Charity, love is not shown, but there is a lack of love revealed. For example, when the mean old lady starts crying, it shows that hurt and a lack of affection. Helping others at the expense of our own comfort is an act of love. People in nursing homes are somewhat isolated from the rest of society. They are treated differently because they are older and no one really wants to deal with