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

Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O” describes a Southern American family, narrated by a dominating older sister. Known only as “Sister,” she attempts to convince readers that her family is the reason that she lives at the post office, however, the actions of the wealthy family suggests her unreliability as a narrator. Throughout the manipulating lies within the family, Welty’s classic American comical story relates to mainstream literature throughout the drama of a typical family but the unusual lies and characteristics of the family remain distinct through the bias point of view of the narrator.
The tension between the narrator and her sister, Stella-Rondo, is the central conflict of the story. Initially, Welty reveals Mr. Whitaker, who
ultimately causes the conflict between the two sisters. Originally, Mr. Whitaker and Sister were together until Stella-Rondo took off with him to Illinois. “Told him I was one-sided. Bigger on one side than the other, which is a deliberate, calculated falsehood. I’m the same” (431). Not only does Sister begin with Stella-Rondo’s lie, but Welty includes this to demonstrate the narrators “one-sided” view of the world. Throughout the story, Sister continues to portray herself as a selfless, open-minded person, however, Stella-Rondo proves her to be unreliable by revealing her sister’s unhappiness.
Not only does the tension occur between the two sisters, but Stella-Rondo involved other family members into drama. The lies continue as Stella-Rondo claims that Sister “fails to understand why [Papa-Daddy] don’t cut off [his] beard” (432). After Papa-Daddy helped Sister get the job at the post office, he becomes furious with his daughter who disrespects his beard. Although Stella-Rondo twisted the words of Sister, this serves as an example which proves why the narrator went to live at the post office. One the other hand, Papa-Daddy also functions as an example for Sister’s unreliability. After his anger had settled he continued to talk about Sister to Uncle Rondo. “Oh, he told Uncle Rondo I didn’t learn to read till I was eight years old and he didn’t see how in the world I could ever got the mail put up in the P.O., much less read it all…” (433). Papa-Daddy’s need of his government influence to get Sister the job and her inability to read works towards revealing her true character.
In addition, Stella-Rondo engages Uncle Rondo into the tension between her and her sister. When Uncle Rondo shows up on the Fourth of July wearing “one of Stella-Rondo’s flesh colored kimonos” Stella-Rondo is the first to judgmentally comment on his attire (433). Again, Stella-Rondo causes tension between Sister and Uncle Rondo when she says “Sister says, ‘Uncle Rondo certainly does look like a fool in that pink kimono’” (436). Even though Stella-Rondo is disgusted with Uncle Rondo’s attire, she manipulates her sister proving again why Sister moved out. In contrast, Uncle Rondo also exposes Sisters deception. During her description of Uncle Rondo she mentions his “one-track mind” which signals readers that he is not the one with the one-track mind, she is (433). She believes that she is the ideal family member which is why she only offers her point of view.
Most importantly, Mama offers a look at both sides of the rivaling sister’s arguments.
At first, Mama seems to be on Stella-Rondo’s side. She forces Sister to apologize to Stella-Rondo and sticks up for her younger daughter when Sister claims that Shirley-T is not actually her adopted. However, Mama also suggests that she is unsure whether or not Shirley-T is adopted. After realizing that Shirley-T had no spoken a word, “Mama and I [Sister] stood there and stared at each other. It was horrible” (435). At this point, it is clear that Mama does not know for sure that Stella-Rondo’s daughter is adopted. Mama is an important character because she validates both sides of the conflict.
Ultimately, Shirley-T is the outcome of the manipulating lies running throughout the family. First off, it is unclear whether or not Shirley-T is adopted. Finding out the two year old was able to tap dance and talk perhaps suggests the young girl is older than Stella-Rondo had said. Additionally, the physical appearance of Shirley-T also questions her background. “I didn’t mean a thing, only that whoever Shirley-T was, she was the spit-image of Papa-Daddy if he’d cut off his beard” (432). It is also ironic that Shirley-T sticks out her tongue out Sister because even she picks up that everyone hates
her.
Finally, Sisters bias point of view reflects her decision to move to the post office. While she spends the majority of the story convincing readers why her family forced her to move out, she obtains her point of view from a single source. Ironically, Sister’s decision to leave the family only reflects her irresponsibly. Not only does she dominate her sister, but she controls the connection to the family to the outside world. First, she takes the radio which limits their connection followed by moving to the P.O. which ultimately takes away all connection with the world. Not only do her actions affect her family, but they also affect the business at the post office. Because of her father influence and the small population in their town, the number of people using the post office drops. As a result, the narrator’s decision to live at the post office exposes her unreliability and selfishness.
Furthermore, the narrator’s decision to move to the P.O. expresses her primary goal to escape the oppression of her family. After moving away from the family, she claims her happiness saying “But here I am, and here I’ll stay. I want to world to know I’m happy” (439). Although she is free from her family’s cruelty, she still hopes that Stella-Rondo will come to the post office demonstrating her happiness is not obtained. “And if Stella-Rondo should come to me this minute, on bended knees, and attempt to explain the incidents of her life with Mr. Whitaker, I’d simply put my fingers in both ears and refuse to listen” (439). Ironically, Sisters hope for Stella-Rondo to come to the post office serves as an example for her true character. Although she considers herself to be a fair, humble person, she eventually reveals her inability to listen and her unreliability as a narrator.
Just like a typical American family, the drama within this family compares to mainstream literature. On the other hand, the unusual lies and character traits embedded in the family create the distinctive effect to mainstream literature. While Sister attempts to convince readers the reason behind her living at the P.O., her family ultimately proves her unreliability.