Why I live at the P.O.

             Eudora Welty, in the story of "Why I Live at the P.O.," tells a story of a girl and the troubles she encounters upon her sister's return into her life. The author uses a first-person point of view to evoke a sense of sympathy from the reader. The story is told from the Sister's perspective and portrays Stella as being spoiled and maliciously turning everyone against her.
             The author starts to introduce the Sister's cumbersome circumstances early on within the story. Stella-Rondo, having recently returned home after separating from her husband, immediately begins to cause havoc in the household. For example, at dinner, Stella-Rondo inquires to Papa-Daddy, "Sister says she fails to understand why you don't cut off your beard?" (Why I live at the P.O. Page 2). Being fully aware that this was a very sensitive subject with him, Stella-Rondo maliciously insinuates that Sister was the curious one. The Sister obviously knows that this was a beard he had grown out his entire life, however, Stella-Rondo deliberately brought it up knowing it would look badly on Sister.
             Throughout the story, the reader is cognizant of how the story tends to revolve only around Sister and all of her misfortunes. We see this fact illustrated numerous times within the story as we are constantly being presented with scenarios that had the author told from another characters perspective, the readers' attitude may have changed. For example, in one scene Sister tells Mama that she has not heard Shirley T. (the daughter of Stella-Rondo) say a word since Stella-Rondo brought her. The mother also makes a claim that she "believes to my soul he drank chemicals" (Why PG. 6), implying that Mr. Whitaker's (the husband) drinking habits may have caused the child some degree of brain damage. Mama asks Stella-Rondo, on 'Sister's behalf', whether the daughter could even talk or not. Shirley proves Sister wrong, managing...

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Why I live at the P.O.. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 01:46, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/7714.html