Character Clues

Character Analysis

Appearance

Welty is incredibly sparse with character descriptions for all of the characters except Phoenix. For her, we get so much detail we could easily paint a portrait if we had better art skills. The descriptions cover the basics, including Phoenix's age, skin tone, eye color, and hair color, but they come with a unique flare so that we get some clues about what Phoenix is like on the inside too. Consider the following example:

Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead, but a golden color ran underneath, and the two knobs of her cheeks were illumined by a yellow burning under the dark. (2)

Okay, so the lady has some serious wrinkles, and her body might be showing some signs of wear and frailty, but there are also words here ("tree," "golden," and "burning") that suggest strength and vitality.

Sometimes in literature omissions can be just as meaningful as inclusions. Why do you think Phoenix is the only character to get a detailed physical description while all the others are left pretty much blank? It certainly keeps her the center of our attention and helps us care more about her than anyone else she encounters along her way.

Props

Phoenix carries a cane made from an umbrella; the hunter carries a gun, dead birds, and a chain for his dog; and the shopper carries an armful of gifts.

If we knew nothing else about these characters and had to guess what they were like based on these props alone, we might guess that Phoenix is resourceful and either a little idiosyncratic herself or resourcefully navigating some external limitation (such as lack of money or proximity to a store) that otherwise keeps her from getting a proper cane. We might also imply that there is some physical reason she needs a cane—or that she's using it to be fancy.

For the hunter, we might guess that he brings threat and destruction with him and that he's ready and willing to exert dominance. And the shopper with her gifts? We might suppose that she is the kind of person who is thinks of others and does things for them. Turns out, all these guesses would be pretty accurate (except assuming that Phoenix carries an umbrella cane because she wants to be fancy). So the props in this story are well placed to give character clues.

Speech and Dialogue

Let's do a little literary excavating to make a list of the terms each character uses to address Phoenix. Importantly, none of them simply call her Phoenix, nor do any of them use formal (which we can think of as respectful) words like Ms. when addressing her, either.

The hunter calls her "Granny," the shopper and the attendant call her "Grandma," and the nurse calls her "Aunt Phoenix." Some brainiacs have noted that Grandma was a term white people would use for older black women, usually—but not always—with respect. Aunt, however, was a term that black people would use to refer to older black women (although other brainiacs argue it was a term white people would have used as well). The text never openly identifies the race of any of the female characters Phoenix encounters, but the distinct wording these women use to address her touches on the socio-cultural dynamics at work.

As for the hunter's use of Granny, we might think of this as a term of endearment if we were to use that title for our own grandmothers—but remember that the hunter has never met Phoenix before. And also remember that he's pretty ominous. In the context of the story then, it seems the label is more a pejorative term, reinforcing the hunter's behavior toward Phoenix as disrespectful and demeaning.