A hero usually exemplifies strength, courage, perseverance, skill, intellectual prowess, generosity, and is usually someone who is greatly admired. For starters, Phoenix Jackson is heroic because she is generous. She risks her own health, and life, when she makes the long trips to obtain medicine for her grandson. She also shows perseverance in making the trips. She's quite old. She's not even sure how old she is. Given her old, frail condition, it takes a lot of courage and determination to continue making the journey.
Welty aptly names her "Phoenix" because this is an allusion to the Greek myth about the phoenix which could repeatedly regenerate itself from the ashes. Just as the mythological phoenix would inevitably rise again, Phoenix Jackson continues to rise and make the pilgrimage for her grandson.
Also, characteristic of a typical hero, Phoenix is fearless. When the hunter points the gun at her and asks if she is scared, she says "No, sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done."
Phoenix is also clever. She manages to pick up a nickel that the hunter drops even though he says he has no money. She also convinces the attendant at the nurse's station to give her a nickel. And in generous fashion, she intends to use the money to buy her grandson a windmill.
Phoenix is not remarkably strong. In fact, she is remarkably weak in her old age. Her heart and mind are in the right place, heroically speaking, but she occasionally forgetful. However, the forgetfulness is temporary and her determination overrides these weaknesses. As a frail, old woman, Phoenix does not look like a typical hero. But this is based upon the notion that a hero is a person of action. If we expand the notion of a hero to include things like courage, generosity, and perseverance, then Phoenix is the paradigm of a hero.
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