Clearly there are plenty of examples of racism in the
story which you can use to demonstrate how Phoenix is an outsider. Consider her meeting
with the white hunter who initially is friendly with her but then his actions have more
menacing overtones:
...then he laughed and lifted his gun and
pointed it at Phoenix.
She stood straight and faced
him.
"Doesn't the gun scare you?" he said, still pointing
it.
"No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day,
and for less than what I
done."
Phoenix is definitely
an "outsider" in the way that she is treated by whites, as this episode demonstrates. It
is clear that the white hunter points his gun at Phoenix on a whim, and also it is clear
that Phoenix is not surprised by this behaviour.
Another
episode you will want to talk about occurs when Phoenix reaches town and tries to get
the medicine she needs for her grandson. The staff in the doctor's automatically assume
she is a "charity case", and then verbally abuse her as she does not respond to their
impertinence. She is patronised and treated badly, and later on Phoenix herself makes it
clear that she is an outsider not just because of her skin colour but also because of
her lack of education:
"I am an old woman without an
education."
Therefore Phoenix
is an outsider in lots of different senses: in terms of her race, in terms of her social
standing, in terms of geography and where she lives and in terms of her level of
education. Hope this helps!
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