she realizes that she encountered a scarecrow. Upon this realization, the aged woman acknowledges her decreasing mental capabilities. My senses is gone. I too old, I the oldest people I ever know (117). Phoenix Jackson, in Weltys A Worn Path must battle the physical and mental challenges as she travels to Natchez to obtain medicine for her beloved grandson.Aside from the internal pressures of old age, Phoenix Jackson is battling external socio-economic pressures. Foremost, the elderly lady is extremely poor. She is forced to steal from strangers and accept welfare, money and prescription medicine from the nurses at the hospital. The nurses dubbed her a charity case (120). As with most poor black rural southerners in the early twentieth century, Phoenix Jackson is illiterate and uneducated. She emphasizes, Im an old woman without an education (120). The aging character is uneducated and poverty stricken. Many African-Americans in the Jim Crow South endured these said circumstances, as well as racism and violence. The flat characters address the agile woman in a disrespectful and condescending manner. She is not given respect or even courtesy. These characters illustrate that Jackson is inferior by virtue of her race and economic status. The socio-economic factors affecting Phoenix Jackson further characterize who she is.In A Worn Path Welty successfully portrays the hardships of Phoenix Jackson. Through her health and status in society we learn that Jackson is a round character whose life is full of trials against the world around her. Jackson is truly a character who evokes empathy and respect from the reader for overcoming the obstacles in her life all for the love of her grandson....
