Introduction
”Why I live at the P.O.” is a monologue story in which the main narrator, whom other characters refer to as “Sister,” clearly explains how it transpired that she left her family home in China Grove, Mississippi. While in the process of her narration, she unknowingly reveals her characters as well as reveals many family secrets (Crow, 26).
According to the narrator, her experiences with her Uncle Rondo, her grandfather and her loving mother had always been harmonious until the 4th of July holiday. This is when her younger sister, Stella-Rondo, suddenly leaves her husband to return to her home (Polk 65). She comes along with her 2 year-old child, Shirley-T, who they supposedly adopted.
The very first line of the narration establishes the main problem quite plainly. Sister says “I was gettingI was getting along finewith Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again” (Werlock&Werlock, 13).Apparently,Sister’s decision was as a result of all of her close family members turning against her immediately after her younger sister, Stella-Rondo knocked their door. Her younger sister had earlier eloped with one traveling photographer, who, according to Sister, “Was my own boyfriend from the beginning before my sister just took him from me” (Crow, 26).
What makes this narration of Sister both complex and comicis that the reader gets to hear only Sister’s part of the story. As Sister says, Stella-Rondo broke up with Mr. Whitaker by just telling him that she is one-sided. In Sister’s interpretation,with hertwisted logic which dominates the narration, replies, “It was bigger from one’s perspective than the other”, which obviously is a deliberate lie.It is with this petulant and pettypoint of view from Sister which makes “Why I Live at the P.O.” one of the finest narrations ever captured in writing(Werlock&Werlock, 13).
Themes in the Story
It is actually difficult to analyze the themes of such a complex and comic story as this one. This is because such stories often put one into thankless tasks of trying to explain a joke. There are many themes portrayed in the story “Why I Live at the P.O.” among them include the theme of isolation, the theme of truth and falsehood, theme of jealousy, lack of proper names and the theme of individualism and Family identity (Crow, 26).
The theme of isolation
Almost all of Welty’s fictional characters seem like isolated in a way: Sister’s narration is one where the reader have to discover the type and nature of the isolation that exists within the characters. Therefore, one may even say that the story is all about the gradual discovery of the reader of why the narrator, Sister, doesactually live at the P.O. The leading characters in this story feel so much isolated even withinseemingly nurturing confinement of the family. Many of them even opt to take refuge in silence (Polk 65).
For instance, Shirley-Tportrays a mute presence throughout the development of the story. This is to an extent where even Sister accuses her of not excising her freedom of speech and say something.By the Fourth of July holidays, one of the major characters, Uncle Rondo has actually over-consumed his prescribed medicine and he prefers a comatose state to his family(Werlock&Werlock, 17). Despite the stuffy heat, Stella-Rondo, keeps the windows to her bedroom locked and shut, separating herself from the world surrounding her.
Sister has a belief that Papa-Daddy is actually deaf or if not, then he is intentionally ignoring people who are around him. This is because he eliminates himself from the proceedings, and prefers the solitude of his hammock in the backyard. When there is not isolating dead silence, the characters try to isolate themselves within blatant lying as well as miscommunication. For instance, Stella-Rondo is able to convince Papa-Daddy that his elder sister insulted his beards and gave a suggestion that they be cut off, when in reality, Sister actually never made such assertions (Polk 65). To defend herself against Stella-rondo’s accusations, Sister comes out plainly and says “Papa-Daddy, you know I wouldn't any more want you to cut off your beard than the man in the moon. It was the farthest thing from my mind! Stella-Rondo sat there and made that up while she was eating breast of chicken." However, this does not convince Papa-Daddy, who says, “But he says, "So the postmistress fails to understand why I don't cut off my beard. 'Bird's nest'- is that what you call it?"(Crow, 26)
The isolation of Sister’s familygets more intense when the narrator prepares to shift out. The insular group swears that they will never send or receive mails, just to malice Sister. Without the small radio, which Sister takes goes with, this family has efficiently cut off any kind of communication with the real outside world and only their own dysfunctional group is left(Werlock&Werlock, 15). The open as well as honest communication has turned out to be an unattainable goal, so this family instead embraces a more intense isolation in their midst. As the story nears its end, when Sister says that she will cover her ears if at all Stella-Rondo tried to expound herself, she means that this trend of isolation can never be reversed but will instead grow worse.
The theme of Truth and Falsehood
In this story of “why I Live at the P.O” the question of what is actually the truth or a lie divides this family. All the characters in the story take lying and deliberate misrepresentations of the real truth as easier modes of communication than openness and honesty. Instead of actually communicating the exact truth, the characters lie, exaggerate as well as deliberately misinterpret other characters’ intentions and remarks(Crow, 26). This kind of miscommunication takes place in everyday conversations of the family as no one needs a special occasion or reason to distort the existing truth.
For instance, Sister strongly believes that she exactly knows the real truth about the treachery of Stella-Rondoin stealing Mr. Whitaker. She also boosts of knowing Stella-Rondo’s deception concerning Shirley T.’s parentage. Moreover, Sister takes Stella-Rondo’s vague version to personally attack her. While the narrator “draws her unimagined conclusions” about Stella-Rondo’shistory, the family is more of willing to believe her fiction about the adoption of Shirley T. Mama even says that she prefers to handle her children’s wordswhen it’s humanly possible, a position which Sister says is actually denying the real facts of life.Among the characters who bow down to lies include Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo who end up believing Stella-Rondo’s reports about Sister’s insults, which the story presents as barefaced lies (Crow, 26).
While the main character, Sister takes herself as the defender of truth, her extreme one-side and self-pity of her story stirs a feeling that her own version of truth is just as cock-eyed and self- protective as the lies of Stella-Rondo (Crow, 26). Sister feels upsetjust because the people around her totally refuse to see the real truth about her younger sister’s short marriage, but surely there exists much that she cannot see. Sister is brought clearly out as a character who cannot focus outside of herand is therefore incapable of perceptiveness into the ambiguities of relationships of humans as well as the gradations and complexities of truth that come along.
The theme of lack of proper names
The theme of Individual and Family Identity
Sister is entirely alienated from her immediate family and their ways of handling the “facts of life.” On the other hand, her way of understanding herself as well as herself is based on her supposed position inher family. When she decides she has to save her pride and walk away from her cradle home after her younger sister, Stella-Rondo has bewitched everyone to go against her, she has no other option but to go settle at the post office where her grandparent has secured a job for her (Gretlund, 22).
Sister explains with feigned triviality at the story’s close that even some people will always quit purchasing stamps for them to be on the right side of Papa-Daddy. Sister’s self-exile at the P.O. has accomplished virtually nothing but to lure the rest of the community, mostly who are relatives away into joining forces and take sides in this family feud. Therefore, her bid for individuation and freedom from her family purely serves to underscore her entrenchment in their inward-looking world (Gretlund, 21).
The theme of jealousy
In Eudora Welty's narration, the theme of jealousy is majorly demonstrated throughout the story. For instance, we can witness jealousy on the part of "Sister." This can be seen as through the way Sister behaves when her younger sister comes back home. She does virtually everything within her glimpse to discredit her sister, Stella-Rondo. A good example is where sister stands firm to say that she can proof that Shirley-T was adopted. However, Stella-Rondo as well as her mother take the comment to be as a result of an indication of Sister's unsupportive nature for Stella-Rondo. In return, Stella-Rondo decides to hit her sister back, in a harder manner to revenge. She plots a lie to turn Papa-Daddy against Sister (Werlock&Werlock, 13). In this plot, Stella-Rondo says "Papa-Daddy, Sister says she fails to understand why you don't cut off your beard."(Snodgrass, 43) Through this, Stella-Rondo succeeds to Papa-Daddy to become upset with Sister.
Sister also trucks her younger sister and tries to extract any fault in everything she does. Sister states that Stella-Rondo always had everything that she wanted in the world but end up throwing it to the dogs. She gives an example where Papa-Daddy had given her this gorgeous necklace when she was just eight years old and the best thing she could manage was to throw it away while playing baseball. It is obviously that Sister also feels that her sister has done just the same with relation to her husband. Sister say, “as soon as Stella-Rondo got married, and moved to his husbands place, the first thing she did was to separate.” (Snodgrass, 43)
Even though the scenarios are entertaining and ridiculous, on a much more basic level, Sister's actions and responses seem to be triggered by her jealousy of her sister, Stella-Rondo. The jealous may necessarily not be due to the life she and her “adopted” daughter has or even her broken marriage, but her having left their hometown first, despite being younger, and left Sister behind. There is a possibility that the tension dwelling between the two sisters is based on the wider experiences of Stella-Rondo in the North as well as her greater sophistication (Crow, 26). Or worse still, her ability to snatch away Mr. Whitaker, who Sister claims to have been her boyfriend before Stella-Rondo swept him away.
Conclusion
“Why I Live at the P.O” is one of the best works of Eudora Welty's. The story takes a dramatic monologue with Sister, the first-person narrator, telling her side of family tussles that has led her to flee a place she had called home since childhood, to take refuge at a local post office. Sister appeals to the reader to consider her part of the story as she crossly recounts Stella-Rondo’s unjust maneuvers in gauging the rest of the family against her (Crow, 26). But Sister’s self-pity as well as exaggerations render her tale unintentionally humorous. Even though the story is comic, its main themes are clearly shaped out to reinforce the thorn-edged realities of life.
Work cited
Crow, Charles L. A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Internet resource.
Werlock, Abby H. P, and James P. Werlock. The Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New York NY: Facts On File, Inc, 2010. Internet resource.
Snodgrass, Mary E. Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. New York: Facts On File, 2006. Internet resource.
Polk, Noel. Eudora Welty-a Bibliography of Her Work. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993. Print.
Gretlund, Jan N. Eudora Welty's Aesthetics of Place. Odense: Odense university press, 1994. Print.
