Explain what happens to Phoenix when she gets to town in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty.

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written and published in the middle of the twentieth century. The setting of the story is
Natchez, Mississippi, and the surrounding area where the main character lives.  At this time,
the south has really not changed its attitude toward the black people who are treated as less
the human and meant to serve the white man.  The epithets of boy, granny, and nigger were
still part of the white mans vernacular for the black people.

Like the
mythological bird for which she was named, Phoenix Jackson rises to the occasion despite her
ancient age [she actually does not know how old she is] and failing mental and physical health.
Determined, dignified, and noblethese are the adjectives which describe this beautiful, raggedy
old woman who has one purpose in life: to make her grandsons life the best that it can
be.

The reader does not know how often Phoenix has to follow the worn path to
town.  Whenever her grandson needs medicine, she makes the dangerous trek to Natchez to fill his
prescription so that he can breathe better. 

The path is hazardous
particularly for someone who can barely see and sometimes forgets what she is doing.  When she
is lucid, Phoenix has common sense and a great wit. This is apparent when she outwits the hunter
and takes his nickel. The hunter treats her with a typical attitude that Phoenix has little
intelligence and is childish in her behavior.

Any confidence
that Phoenix has in her abilities is hindered because of the extreme fatigue that she feels
after her long walk.  As she arrives at the doctors office, Phoenix is obviously relieved. Her
movements have been laborious.

Here I be,
she said.  There was a fixed and ceremonial stiffness over her body.

A
charity case, I suppose, said an attendant who sat at the desk before her.

But Phoenix only looked ahead.  There was sweat on her face, the wrinkles in her skin
shone like a bright net.

Speak up, Grandma, the woman said. Whats your
name? Have you been here before?

The attendant becomes
annoyed by Phoenix's lack of response.  She treats the elderly lady as though she is stupid.
 The nurse comes in and says that this was just old Aunt Phoenix.  The nurse explains Phoenixs
purpose.

Phoenix is lost in her thoughts and does not remember why she has
come. Staring ahead and looking blank, her face has become rigid. The nurse continues to try to
get Phoenix to respond. Finally, the nurse tells Phoenix that she is wasting their time. She
also asks if Phoenixs grandson is dead. That question brings a response. Phoenix admits that her
memories take over her.

The reader learns that the grandson drank lye about
three years ago.  It burned his throat which closes, and he cannot breathe.  The medicine keeps
him alive.  Phoenix also relates that she never went to school.  She tells the nurse that she
and her grandson are the only two living of her family.  Her grandons's sweet spirit never gives
in to his terrible plight.

The nurse hands her the medicine.  The once harsh
attendant gives Phoenix a nickel in the spirit of Christmas.  Phoenix is thrilled.  With the ten
cents that she now has, Phoenix buys her grandson a Christmas present.  With renewed energy,
medicine, and a present, Phoenix journeys back toward her grandson awaiting a kiss and a
hug.