In Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" the main and pretty much only character in the story is Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix is described by Welty as "very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her step, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock" (p. 314). This shows that Phoenix is an elderly woman, by describing how she walks slowly, with a little rock side to side shows that she can possibly walk with a cane. Welty also describes the cane, "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her" (p. 314). Since her cane is made from an umbrella, it shows she is poor, she has no money for a real cane so she uses what is at her disposal. The last thing Welty does to help give some background on Phoenix is she uses the way Phoenix talks to give insight. "'Ghost,' she said sharply, 'who be you the ghost of? For i have heard of nary death close by'" (p. 315). Her dialect shows that Phoenix probably is not very educated, and has very basic vocabulary. Welty uses these different techniques to help the reader learn about the Phoenix Jackson.
