Eudora Welty's Why I Live At The P. O.

“Why I Live at the P.O” by Eudora Welty is about the main character 's sister and “adopted” daughter who moves back in with their Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle Rondo because of a divorce with Mr. Whitaker. When Stella-Ronda, the main character 's sister, arrives on the Fourth of July, the main character, Sister, starts questioning if Stella-Ronda 's adopted daughter is really adopted. Sister is suspicious that Shirley-T is actually Stella-Ronda 's real, biological, daughter. Stella-Ronda becomes frustrated with Sister and starts a rumor that Sister wants Papa-Daddy to chop off his beard. This infuriates Papa-Daddy and he leaves to be alone. Next Uncle Rondo becomes angry when Stella-Ronda mocks him in the kimono, but he eventually calms down as the story continues. After a giant explosion of fighting, Sister decides she is independent and moves to the post office (P.O.). Though her family isn 't so happy and this little action tears the town in two, while people chose who was in the right. In this essay I will discuss the major idea about the characters, the narration, and lastly the theme. …show more content…
There is not really anything known about the main character as far as her actual name goes. Welty does refer to her as Sister, so that 's the name we will call her. Just like Sister Bear in “The Berensain Bears.” The story never really explains Sister 's physical appearance so we cannot analyze her physical appearance. Sister is a determined character because through the entire story she is bound and determined to prove that her niece, Shirley-T, is truly Stella-Ronda 's biological daughter. However, in Sister 's perspective, it appears she was driven out of her home and that she had no other choice but to move to the post office, the record of her