What are some obstacles Phoenix faces, and what social/political forces might have her in their grip?

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"" does present Phoenix, specifically, and others like her, generally, in the grip of
large and indifferent social and political forces.  This is a Southern Gothic story that deals
with life in the South after the Civil War.  For the most part, existence was not good for
anyone immediately after the Civil War.  The South was ravaged (remember most of the battles
took place in the South) and the economic system turned upside down. 

Notice
that in the story no one is really out to get Phoenix.  Her existence is the way it is, period. 
Nobody conspired to make her grandson swallow lye, or arranged things so that she would have to
make such a long, difficult walk to get his medicine.  Even the man who points the rifle at her
does it just for the fun of it, for kicks.  No one is persecuting Phoenix.

Yet, no one is really doing anything to help her, either.  She has to suffer
humiliation just to get the medicine for the grandson.  And even this act of charity is done
with indifference:

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

Phoenix is the victim of society.  Society is not necessarily against her, but it is
not for her, either.