Eurdora Welty's title provides a clue to the question
raised about Phoenix's particular knowledge: Her "worn path" of life has provided her
with an experience and acumen that is superior to the people and forces of nature that
she encounters. For instance, when the hunter happens upon her and asks her why she is
in the ditch, she simply jokes about being a June-bug waiting to be turned over.
Careful to tell him anything, Phoenix is vague about where she lives and for what
purpose she is out,
"I bound to go to town, mister...The time come
around."
When the man mocks
her with a generalization about "colored people," Phoenix remains stoic: "The deep
lines in her face went into a fierce and different radiation." Instead of reacting,
Phoenix distracts the man about the black dog; when he runs off the dog, Phoenix takes
advantage of his absence and grabs a nickel that she has noticed fall from his pocket.
Then when he returns and cruelly points his gun at her, Phoenix, who knows that he
wishes to terrify her, wisely refuses to show fear: "She stood straight and faced him."
Her aplomb in this situation denies him the effect he had desired; he shoulders the gun
and lies to her, saying he would give her a dime if he had any money with him. When he
tells her to go home, Phoenix assumes a humble position, replying ," I bound to go on my
way, mister."
At the clinic, Phoenix asks for the medicine
that helps to relieve her grandson's pain. Because it is Chritmas time, an attendant
offers her a few pennies. Stiffly, Phoenix replies that five pennies make a nickel, so
the attendant gives her one. With the other nickel that fell from the hunter's pocket,
Phoenix can buy her grandson a little windmill, a symbol of her victory over the
obstacles that she has encountered and her endurance against the subtle persecutions
that she suffers from those who call her "Granny" and "Aunt
Phoenix."
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