“Why I Live at the P.O”: Central Idea Analysis “Why I live at the P.O”, by Eudora Wetly, displays a dysfunctional family in which Sister, the narrator, is often used as a scapegoat. Stella-Rondo, the narrator’s younger sister, ranks the highest in betrayal in perspective of Sister. Stella-Rondo creates constant conflict amongst the narrator in which many issues pursue. Stella-Rondo insists on producing lies to have their family turn against Sister at the same time she retaliates back. Shirley-T., the “adopted” daughter of Stella-Rondo, was placed under the limelight in which Sister questioned whether or not if Shirley-T. was truly adopted. Stella-Rondo exposed a distasteful attitude towards Sister. Eventually Stella-Rondo placed words into …show more content…
Sister’s mouth telling Uncle Rondo that the kimono was dreadful. The subliminal revenge continues throughout insisting that Sister re-opened the sensitive topic of Shirley-T.’s adoption. Stella-Rondo proves that she is adopted by singing and tap-dancing to shine light that her daughter does not have any deformities. The insult that Stella-Rondo planted a few hours back ruptured Uncle Rondo’s confidence leading him to place fireworks in Sister’s room around 6:30 the next morning. After many lies to distort Sister’s credibility, Sister unloads a comment in which she stated that Stella-Rondo would not be able to keep in contact with Mr. Whitaker without the P.O, causing her to cry. Ultimately Sister moves out to the post office in which she wants to experience isolation. Wetly utilizes Sister’s personality traits to portray the overall theme. Although family represents symbolic to an individual’s comfort, certain instances where isolation poses the best option. The entire short story is written in perspective of Sister; first person.
The entire first person objective throughout the short story deemed appropriate, because it allowed the readers to inherit the mindset of Sister. The first person perspective also manipulated the reader in which the reader somewhat feels sympathy for Sister, for example when Uncle Rondo placed firecrackers into her room at 6:30AM especially since she states “I'm just terribly susceptible to noise of any kind, the doctor has always told me I was the most sensitive person he had ever seen in his whole life, and I was simply prostrated” (Welty 168). Although Sister could’ve easily avoided certain messes by not insulting her sister, potentially dodging the firecracker incident, Sister continued to backfire. First person generates a feeling of sympathy for Sister when in reality; Sister is possible of being as bad of a person, just not explicitly stated due to the limited point of view. The narrator said “I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister…came back home again” (Wetly 164). Within the eyes of the narrator there was no definite way to determine the most magnanimous person, because the narrator’s point of view labeled herself as the …show more content…
victim. The protagonist, Sister, represents the dynamic character, whereas Stella-Rondo poses as the static character. Sister’s personality changes throughout the book from having a tolerant to an intolerant personality. The change is noticeable within the beginning where Mama said “call her back, or she’ll starve to death” (Wetly 165). The change of lifestyle for Sister was already placed in action, but was never executed. She already tested the waters to be by herself, thus leading to a huge leap in which she decides to move out to ignore all of the negative tension, sister says “And if Stella-Rondo should come to me this minute, on bended knees…I'd simply put my fingers in both my ears and refuse to listen” (Wetly 170). On the other hand, Stella-Rondo remains the “younger sister” personality throughout the story. Stella-Rondo was notarized for lying. The first scenario appears when she talks to Papa-Daddy about his beard by saying “Papa-Daddy, Sister says she fails to understand why you don’t cut off your beard” (Wetly 164). She then continues the lies just to create mishap with her sister. Stella-Rondo throughout the story did not display any form of change in which he kid-like personality remained the same. Sister’s threshold eventually broke creating a new personality thus leading to her decision of isolation. The story holds many versions of conflicts with a man versus man conflict being the most explicit throughout, but however the internal conflict, man versus self, is more prominent.
The narrator was bombarded with lies thus she had to defend herself. Whenever Stella-Rondo imposed a lie, Sister had to fluff up her justification with respects towards the subject, for example “you know I wouldn't any more want you to cut off your beard than the man in the moon” (Wetly 165). Sister knew that her standing power within the household was not elite. However, if she was considered relevant to Papa-Daddy, then a simple remark would’ve been fine. Throughout the household as well, Sister is the scapegoat. She receives constant hate from everyone thus providing a lowered self-esteem. When Mama told Sister that she would be happy to see her if the same situation happened with her instead of her sister, she would’ve been just as happy, but however Sister did not believe Mama (Wetly 166). Sister has the constant conflict in which she believes she isn’t suited for the family, thus sending Sister off her way to be
alone. In conclusion, the first person perspective, the dynamic character changes, and her conflict with herself created the theme. Where the perspective allowed the reader to be Sister and experience her life. Dynamic changes to Sister’s personality allowed her to sprout forward to be a different person, more independent. Lastly the constant conflict of her feelings of not being good enough for the family pushed her limits. Overall Welty generates the theme of how isolation can be a solution to conflicting personal problems.
Mother Sister certainly believes she is on a higher moral plane than the lowly Mayor and is usually seen by way of a low-angle shot high in her window preaching down and casting criticism on the passersby, giving her an almost God-like characteristic. The high angle shots from her view give Da Mayor and others on the street a trivial and humble image. The two are rarely seen at th...
The story begins with and is enveloped by Walton’s letters to his sister. His sister is very close to him; as can be seen by the affection terms used for her and the comfort level that Walton has with her; terms such as “dear sister” and “my sister”. This relationship that Walton has with his sister is placed on the reader through his expressions and use of language.
Throughout the film, we learn that each woman has setbacks within her household. One sister has a terrible drinking problem and ultimately loses her job due to excessive drinking and tardiness. The second sister has had several pregnancies that each result in miscarriages due to high stress. As a therapist, there are several different elements to review.
The mother and daughter have a very distant relationship because her mother is ill and not capable to be there, the mother wishes she could be but is physically unable. “I only remember my mother walking one time. She walked me to kindergarten." (Fein). The daughter’s point of view of her mother changes by having a child herself. In the short story the son has a mother that is willing to be helpful and there for him, but he does not take the time to care and listen to his mother, and the mother begins to get fed up with how Alfred behaves. "Be quiet don't speak to me, you've disgraced me again and again."(Callaghan). Another difference is the maturity level the son is a teenager that left school and is a trouble maker. The daughter is an adult who is reflecting back on her childhood by the feeling of being cheated in life, but sees in the end her mother was the one who was truly being cheated. “I may never understand why some of us are cheated in life. I only know, from this perspective, that I am not the one who was.” (Fein). The differences in the essay and short story show how the children do not realize how much their mothers care and love
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….
Although this story is told in the third person, the reader’s eyes are strictly controlled by the meddling, ever-involved grandmother. She is never given a name; she is just a generic grandmother; she could belong to anyone. O’Connor portrays her as simply annoying, a thorn in her son’s side. As the little girl June Star rudely puts it, “She has to go everywhere we go. She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day” (117-118). As June Star demonstrates, the family treats the grandmother with great reproach. Even as she is driving them all crazy with her constant comments and old-fashioned attitude, the reader is made to feel sorry for her. It is this constant stream of confliction that keeps the story boiling, and eventually overflows into the shocking conclusion. Of course the grandmother meant no harm, but who can help but to blame her? O’Connor puts her readers into a fit of rage as “the horrible thought” comes to the grandmother, “that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (125).
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.
As this occurs, the story takes on a comedic aspect from the view of the reader, and we lose our sympathy for Sister. 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.
The childhood of Frances Piper consists of inadequate love, loss of innocence and lack of concern, ultimately leading to her disastrous life. As a six year old child, she encounters several traumatic events, explicitly the death of her loved ones and the loss of her innocence. Over the course of one week, there have been three deaths, two funerals and two burials in the Piper family. “Frances was crying so hard now that Mercedes got worried. ‘I want my Mumma to come ba-a-a-a-ack.’”( McDonald 174). As a young child, there is nothing more upsetting than losing a mother. A family is meant to comfort each other to fulfill the loss of a loved one; however, this is not the case in the Piper family. Mercedes, only a year older than Frances, tries to console her even though she herself is worried. The loss of motherly love and affection has a tremendous impact on her future since now her sole guardian, James, expresses no responsibility towards her. Instead, he molests Frances on the night of Kathleen’s funeral to lessen the grief of his lost daughter. As a result “These disturbing experiences plague Frances with overwhelming feelings of low self worth and guilt that haunt h...
During the course of the story we see many references that Sister is envious, even jealous of Stella-Rondo. Sister thinks that because “Stella-Rondo is exactly twelve months to the day younger [than she is] that she’s spoiled.” (108) A person exactly one year younger than another sibling is no more or less spoiled than the other person. Sister says Stella-Rondo has “always had anything in the world [she]wanted.” This seems to bother Sister because she thought she never got everything she wanted. “Papa-Daddy give [Stella-Rondo] this gorgeous Add-a-pearl necklace”. There are some benefits that naturally go along with being the younger sibling. This does not mean that Sister has to behave the way she does. True, she never references Papa Daddy buying her anything or giving her “everything” she wanted, but she has to take into account what he has done for her. Papa Daddy got her the Post Office job “through [his] influence with the government”, which Sister thinks is the “next smallest P.O. in the entire state of Mississippi”.
Gazing upon my sister, it was as though she had been replaced by her complete opposite. Where once her face had been covered with smiles all of the time, her face was now contorted with grief, and it looked like she would never smile again. Her look could only be described as a small child who has lost a toy in the sand box.
June-May receives a letter from her twin sisters shortly after her mother’s death. However, her sisters do not know their mother is dead and have been searching for her for years. June-May takes the letter to Auntie Lindo who writes back pretending to be their mother and says that they are coming to visit. June-May protests saying “They’ll think I’m responsible, that she died because I didn’t appreciate her,” (Tan 149). She believes that her sisters will hate her when she shows up without their mother and has to announce her death. As a result, Auntie Lindo writes back announcing the passing of the mother and announces that instead their sister, June-May, will be coming. It is during this trip that June-May fulfills her mother’s dream, “carrying with me her dreams of coming home. I am going to China,” (Tan 147). By doing this she gains another part of her mother. However, it is when June-May reunites with her sisters that she fully becomes one wi...
There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious she is not mad we must assume she is telling the truth. (p.50)
Tom realizes how important his sister is to him, and how she affects his life. He knew as the man of the house that he had no other choice but than to pick up the role when his father deserted them. Tom and Laura will always have a strong connection as a brother and sister. Laura means the world to Tom and he would never want any harm to come to her. Even though he left the house, Laura knows in her heart why he left, and that it was not anything against her. While Tom works hard to support his mother and sister, he felt trapped and confused
The poem this essay is based on is For my Sister by Jannifer Traig. Not much is known about the author, except for the short bibliography provided in the book From Totems To Hip-Hop. She is an unknown identity. All that is known, is that she attended the University of California Berkley and was a student in a poetry class taught by Ishmael Reed. (Reed, 503). However, her poem does provide some information about her personal life. One thing is that she has had siblings or been close to someone with siblings. This is something that can be taken out of the poem because only someone that has siblings or has been around someone when they are with their siblings can understand all the hatred, jealously and love one can have for them. The author may not have experienced these particular events in this story, but she has to have felt something like this in order to convey these feelings in such a strong and amazing way. Not only has the author greatly expressed these emotions, but she has used various examples display this and really bring the story to life.