What is the atmosphere in "A Worn Path," and would it change if the setting were different?

At first,
it's tempting to say that thein the story is ominous: Phoenix Jackson is making her long,
lonesome way through the countryside, and she's quite old; her eyes are failing her and every
step must be carefully measured in order for her to stay safe. Indeed, it's a pretty precarious
position: her shoes are unlaced, and it seems like the entire landscape is trying to catch her,
and hold her:

Seem like there is chains about my feet,
time I get this far . . . Something always take a hold of me on this hillpleads I should
stay[,]

she says to herself at one point. Once over the
hill, she gets caught in a thorn bush, and the hot sun beats down on her. She has to clamber
over a barbed-wire fence, and through the "maze" of "dead corn," after the
"dead trees, like black men with one arm."

All of these images
seem likely to create a suspenseful atmosphere, and indeed, there is a kernel of suspense in the
story, particularly when the man who helps Phoenix out of the ditch points...