Why I Live At The PO By

? Eudora Welty Essay, Research Paper

Response: Why I live at the P.O.

“Why I live at the P.O.” by Eudora Welty is told in the first person narrative. This particular way of telling a story emphasizes feelings and knowledge of the character who is telling the story. Sister gives the impression that she feels very left out the family. She seems to have a better relationship with her family when Stella-Rondo marries Mr. Whitaker and moves out of the house to Illinois. Yet, all of her frustrations return when Stella-Rondo comes back home.

Sister is very dramatic. Her thoughts and actions show that she is not rational in the way that she goes about handling things. Through Sister it is seen that her family is not completely sensible either. When they disagree with each other they resemble an act of a play. All of it is organized with too much work going into it. Nothing can be talked out over coffee, everything must be theatrical, such as the firecrackers in Sister’s bedroom.

When Sister moves out of her house and into the PO the exaggeration of the story is seen. No-one would ever move out of their home and into the post office just because they are having family problems. Much more realistically a person would go and speak to a friend. Welty stops the reader from thinking that Sister has friends because her family is the majority of the town and the rest of the people of the town turned against her on account of Papa Daddy.

This story is not very believable. Sister portrays a girl who is extremely upset with and jealous of her younger sister. The story emphasizes how ridiculous we can all be at times; makes us stop and review our actions so that we can be sure that we are not overreacting over something as silly and simple to deal with as sibling rivalry.