Analyze Phoenix's language in "A Worn Path." What is conveyed through her speech?

The first
time we hear Phoenix speak, she says:

Out of my way, all
you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals!...Keep out from under these
feet, little bob-whites...Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let none of those come
running my direction. I got a long way.

All of these
sentences, except for the final one, are imperative sentences. In other words, each is phrased
as a command. She tells the animals to get Out of (her) way and to Keep out from under (her)
feet. This repetition of imperative sentences suggests that Phoenix is a rather bad-tempered old
lady or that she is simply in a hurry to get somewhere.

A little later in the
story, as she is walking up a hill, Phoenix says, Seem like there is chains about my feet,
time I get this far, and then, Something always take a hold of me on this hill - pleads I
should stay. Phoenixs speech is grammatically unconventional. For example, she uses the singular
form of the verb, take with the singular form of the noun Something. She should, to be
grammatically correct (or conventional), use the plural form of the verb with the singular form
of the noun. Such grammatically unconventional constructions suggest that Phoenix is perhaps a
lower-class woman.

In the quotations above, Phoenix also uses vague,
speculative language like Something and Seem like. This vague, speculative language implies
that Phoenix is uncertain or confused as to what it is that seems to hold her back. She seems to
suspect that there is some invisible, mysterious force at work. She also uses ato compare this
mysterious force to chains about [her] feet, implying that it is a hostile force. This perhaps
indicates that Phoenix is not only uncertain or confused, but also perhaps a little
afraid.

Phoenix also has a playful side to her personality, however, and this
too comes out in her speech. For example, when somebody asks her later in the story, How old
are you, Granny? she replies with, Theres no telling, mister€¦no telling. When the same person
asks her what she is doing lying in a ditch, Phoenix replies, Lying on my back like a June bug
waiting to be turned over, mister.