Analysis Of Sister Rivalry In Why I Live At The P. O

1083 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of meaning of fourth of july for the

Sister Rivalry “Why I Live at the P.O. was written by Eudora Welty in 1941. “Why I Live at the P.O.” takes place on the Fourth of July in China Grove, Mississippi. Eudora Welty born in 1909 and passed away from pneumonia in 2001, in Jackson, Mississippi. During the Great Depression Welty worked as a photographer. “Her inspiration behind writing Why I Live at the P.O. came from a photograph she took of a woman ironing in the back of a small post office” (Sexton). Sister, the first-person narrator, in the short story “Why I Live at the P.O., causes external conflicts within her family as a result of her inner-conflicts, such as lack of self-confidence and a demanding need to be the center of attention” (Sexton). This story is written in Sister’s …show more content…

She tells Papa Daddy that Sister ridiculed his beard and Uncle Rondo that Sister laughed at him for wearing her pink kimono. Uncle Rondo then punishes Sister by throwing firecrackers into her bedroom the next morning. Sister often appeals to the reader to witness what she actually said. Throughout the story, the family supports Stella Rondo, reminding Sister that at least Stella left home and managed to find a man. Sister reminds them that as China Grove's postmistress of Mississippi's second smallest post office she has her own form of independence and has control of the family's communication with the outside world. Sister casts aspersions about Shirley T.'s state of mind because she has not spoken a word since her arrival. She reminds Mama of how Mr. Whitaker used to drink. Mama approaches Shirley T. who starts to sing Popeye the Sailor Man, proving Sister wrong. An argument builds concerning the parentage of Shirley T. and the whereabouts of Mr. Whitaker. Sister insists that Stella Rondo has been deserted by Mr. Whitaker. The family refuses to contemplate this possibility. By the end of the story, Sister has become so infuriated by the apparent favoritism shown towards Stella Rondo …show more content…

Jesus tells his disciples a parable of the Prodigal son. But first, there is this family that has two sons. The youngest son asks his father for his inheritance. The youngest son then took the inheritance and ran away to spend it all. Then he ran into trouble. He ran out of money so he came back home. Instead of being punished he was welcomed with open arms. The older brother was furious. The older brother does everything right and never gets welcomed the way his brother does. This relates a lot to “Why I live at the P.O”. The oldest sister was getting along fine with her family until the youngest sister (Stella Rondo) decided to come back. They were excited to see Stella Rondo; Sister was jealous. Sister wants all the attention not the other way around. Sister then becomes petty and try to turn the family against Stella Rondo but turns out that Stella-Rondo becomes that master of the game. Sister tries to accuse Stella Rondo of lying but the family does not buy it. They do not believe sister but according to sister they believe Stella Rondo and rather take Stella Rondo’s side. Sister accuses her of lying but how do we know that sister is not the one lying. So at the end of the story Stella Rondo has turned everyone in the family against Sister. Sister got tired of all the ridicule and decides to take “what was hers” and leave. Sister then goes to the P.O. (post office) and decides to live

Show More
Related

  • Symbolism In Cornet At Night By Sinclair Ross

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    Just like Jesus, Phillip came to aid people but instead just got tossed aside and sent back to where he came from. Tom brought Phillip to aid the people of the farm, and he did, but to Tom's parents, his help was not sufficient, so Phillip was tossed aside and sent back to where he came from, just like Jesus had been. Tom's father can illustrate this for us when he says, "I'm taking him back to town…He tried hard enough…" (Ross 234). According to Tom's father he tried relativly hard enough, but it was just inadequate so we are taking him back. This is also not fair when it comes to Phillip. Phillip tried hard, but that was still not good enough. Just like Jesus who tries hard to get the people to be enlightened and to embrace God, but was instead punished for it. Thus showing how Phillip and Jesus Christ can, in a way be the same

    Read More

  • John Ames Relationship

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    A deeply pious man, John considers the Bible a sublime source of moral code, guiding him through the challenges of his life. He proclaims to his kid son, for whom he has written this spiritual memoir, that the “Body of Christ, broken for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you” (81). While John manages to stay strong in the faith and nurture a healthy relationship with his son, his relationship with his own father did not follow the same blueprint. John’s father, also named John Ames, was a preacher and had a powerful effect on John’s upbringing. When John was a child, Father was a man of faith. He executed his role of spiritual advisor and father to John for most of his upbringing, but a shift in perspective disrupted that short-lived harmony. Father was always a man who longed for equanimity and peace. This longing was displayed in his dealings with his other son, Edward: the Prodigal son of their family unit, a man who fell away from faith while at school in Germany. John always felt that he “was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father's house” (238). Father always watched over John, examining for any sign of heterodoxy. He argued with John as if John were Edward, as if he were trying to get Edward back into the community. Eventually, John’s father's faith begins to falter. He reads the scholarly books

    Read More

  • Why I Live At The Po Analysis

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Why I Live at the P.O. something that I discovered to be very ordinary was the confrontation of Stella-Rondo telling lies about the narrator (sister). There are two instances when this happens, the first lie is Stella-Rondo says “Papa-Daddy, Sister says she fails to understand why you don’t cut off your beard” (438 Welty). The second lie is when Stella-Rondo says, “Sister has been devoting this solid afternoon to sneering out my bedroom window at the way you look” (443 Welty). By Stella-Rondo pinning these lies on her sister it turns the family members against her sister and for the family to favor Stella-Rondo over sister. It all started too with sister assuming that Stella-Rondo’s baby is not adopted “She was the spit-image of Papa-Daddy….

    Read More

  • Octavia E. Butler's Parable Of The Sower

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    Her father biked with co-workers five blocks from the entrance but then disappeared before reaching back home. Lauren and a search party went to find Reverend Olumina ’s body but failed to do so. He was pronounced dead. After the death of her father she considers moving away from the neighborhood realizing how much worse the lack of safety is in the community. Lauren finally preaches what she feel the community should do. Lauren states, “I preached from Luke, chapter eighteen, verses one through eight: the parable of the importunate window. It’s one I’ve always liked. A widow is so persistent in her demands for justice that she over comes the resistance of a judge who fears neither God nor man. She wears him down. Moral: The weak can overcome the strong if the weak persist. Persisting isn’t always safe , but it’s often necessary ” (Butler 134). Lauren is trying to explain that despite the tragedies that occurred, them as a community should stick together and stay strong. She explains to the community about the current cycle that her father and the adults created is not going to work out forever. While being under the current cycle, many outsiders snuck their way inside the community and stole money and food. Not only that, the watchers noticed that the thieves carry

    Read More

  • “I declared everlasting war against the species”: Sibling Conflict and the Consequences

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley introduces the change from good to evil with the attention that guardians give a child. William Crisman, in his critique of Mary Shelley’s work, identifies the “sibling rivalry” between Victor and the rest of his family. Crisman remarks that Victor feels as if he is the most important person in his parents’ lives, since he was Alphonse’s and Caroline’s only child. The Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth and Victor sarcastically remarks that he has a happy childhood. This prompts Victor starts to read essays about alchemy and study natural science. Anne Mellor, another critic of Frankenstein, proposes that Frankenstein’s creature was born a good person and society’s reaction to him caused him to turn evil. Victor’s makes the creature in his own perception of beauty, and his perception of beauty was made during a time in his life when he had secluded himself from his family and friends. He perceived the monster as “Beautiful!”, but Victor unknowingly expressed the evil in himself, caused by secluding himself from everybody, onto the creature (60). In this way, the creature is Victor’s evil mirrored onto a body. The expression of Victor onto the monster makes the townspeople repulsed by the creature. The theory of the “alter ego” coincides with Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry (Mellor). Mary Shelley conveys that through Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry, Victor isolates himself from society. Mellor describes the isolation during his creation of his creature leads to him giving the creature false beauty that causes Victor to abandon him and society to reject him.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Gospel Of Thomas

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Furthermore, Jesus says that those who do not hate their mothers and fathers cannot be disciples of him (Thomas 42:25-27). Likewise, in Luke, Jesus says that whomever comes to him and does not hate their family and life itself cannot be a disciple of his (Luke 14:26). In similar fashion, the gospel of Matthew recalls that Jesus said whoever loves their father, mother, son or daughter more than him is not worthy of him (Matthew 10:37). As discussed before, the language of each gospel is vastly different. While this is true, the message of each has the same point, Jesus wants to be the most loved by his disciples, even if that means that his followers hate their own families and lives. Again, it can be concluded that Jesus of Nazareth made this statement, as he felt his followers should love him most and have unwavering faith in him. If they did this, then they one could be granted access into the

    Read More

  • Sister's Jealousy in "Why I Live at the P.O."

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jealousy between siblings materializes because one of them feels overshadowed by the other. For girls, this results in a lack of confidence. If a girl loses to her sister, younger or older, insecurity builds underneath often causing hostility between them. In Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Sister’s resentfulness towards her sister hinders her ability to become independent.

    Read More

  • Why I Live at the P.O.

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sister lives in China Grove, Mississippi presumably a very small town with only a few occupants. She lives with her mother, grandfather and uncle in their home, being the center of attention for the duration of the time until her younger sister, Stella-Rondo returns home. The return of Stella-Rondo sparks a conflict with Sister immediately because Sister is obviously envious of her and has been even before she came back to China Grove. The reader gets clear evidence of Sister’s jealousy toward Stella-Rondo when Sister says “She’s always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away.”(594). Clearly Sister has a predisposition toward Stella-Rondo returning for many reasons, and this is the beginning of the conflict that she begins to have with herself.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use Essay: Sisters with Nothing in Common

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    When two children are brought up by the same parent in the same environment, one might logically conclude that these children will be very similar, or at least have comparable qualities. In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the case. The only thing Maggie and Dee share in common is the fact that they were both raised by the same woman in the same home. They differ in appearance, personality, and ideas that concern the family artifacts.

    Read More

  • Why I Live at the P.O.

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sister’s perspective is very self-centered and designed to manipulate the reader for selfish purposes. When the story first begins, Sister is trying to get the reader to see that “Of course [she] went with Mr., Whitaker first…and Stella Rondo broke [them up].” Sister wants the readers to know this piece of information so we will think she is a victim in the story. This is a way of getting us, the readers, on “her side” so we will begin to think like her and dislike the person or people that she dislikes.

    Read More

  • Conflict In The Rez Sisters

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Rez Sisters by Cree playwright Tomson Highway, the family road trip promotes each woman’s understanding of their relationships by creating an environment for personal growth and discovery. The road trip, with the help of Nanabush, helps reconnect the sisters and strengthen their bond so they are prepared for Marie-Adele's death. The inter-family conflicts show how the sisters encourage each other to be better people, survive the struggles of living on the rez, and support each other through hard times.

    Read More

  • Sibling Society Essay

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    How would a society mature if it did not advance alongside technology? This is one of the questions impressed upon me while reading an excerpt from American poet and author Robert Bly’s book The Sibling Society. Bly defines a sibling society as a society that is filled with half-mature adults filling the void left by improper role models. They use internet and electronic entertainment as a substitution for the values and convictions that would have been imparted in them by an authoritative figure. Although we have an alarming amount of immature adults, we are not becoming a sibling society due to technology. With the use of technology, recent generations are now growing up with an awareness of the issues in the world around them, helping them

    Read More

  • The Dysfunctional Family in Why I Live at the P.O.

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone wants a perfect family, but nothing is ever perfect. The family in “Why I Live at the P.O.” is most definitely less than perfect. When Stella-Rondo returns to her old home after leaving her husband and bringing her small child who she claims is adopted, much conflict in the family increases. Stella-Rondo turns every family member living in the household against Sister, her older sister, and every family member betrays Sister by believing the lies Stella-Rondo tells about Sister to them. Through much turmoil and distress, Sister becomes so overwhelmed with the unending conflict that she feels she must leave her home and live at the post office. In “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Eudora Welty strongly implies that the function of the family can rapidly decline when family members refuse to do certain things they should and do certain things they should not through her use of point of view, symbolism, and setting.

    Read More

  • Life of Eudora Welty

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eudora Welty was born in 1909, in Jackson, Mississippi, grew up in a prosperous home with her two younger brothers. Her parent was an Ohio-born insurance man and a strong-minded West Virginian schoolteacher, who settled in Jackson in 1904 after their marriage. Eudora’s school life began attending a white-only school. As born and brought up under strict supervision and influence, at the age of sixteen she somehow convinced her parents to attend college far enough from home, to Columbus, Mississippi and then to Madison, Wisconsin. After graduation in 1930, she moved to New York to attend Columbia Business School. While living in New York, Harlem Jazz theatre occupied her more than her class did. She returned to Jackson in 1931 following her father’s untimely death, where she worked for a local radio station and also wrote articles for a newspaper. Later she worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration in 1935. As a part of her job she traveled by car or by bus through the depth of Mississippi, and saw poverty of black and white people, which she had never imagined before. This time photography became her passion. She was somehow influenced by black and Southern culture as seen in her novel or short story called “Some Notes on River Country” or “A Worn Path”.

    Read More

  • Family Feud in Anita Desai´s Clear Light of Day

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    Until a child is eighteen years old, the parents have full responsibility. They provide a stable and loving environment for their children. As the leaders in a household, caring and loving parents also maintain the bonds that hold the family together. However, absence of loving parental guidance can create tension between family members. Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day shows how war, specifically the partition of India, affects a particular family. The partition of Indian in 1947 created the separate countries of India and Pakistan, consequently ripping families apart. The partition, initiated by India’s independence from Britain, attempted to accommodate irreconcilable religious differences between Muslims and Hindus by forming the Islamic Pakistan. In Clear Light of Day, the Das children’s relationship with their parents causes lasting sibling conflict that mirrors this social and political upheaval of India.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Sister Rivalry In Why I Live At The P. O

Open Document