Why I Live At The P. O By Eudora Welty Summary

“Why I Live at the P.O,” written by Eudora Welty, is about a jealous, resentful woman named “Sister.” Sister, the narrator of the story, begins her story when her younger sister, Stella-Rondo, returns home after separating from Mr. Whitaker, her husband. Stella-Rondo brings along her daughter, Shirley-T. Stella-Rondo insists that the young girl is adopted, despite the great resemblance to her grandfather, Papa-Daddy. Sister does not believe Shirley-T is adopted and begins a series of altercations between the siblings, whose relationship has been rigorous since Stella-Rondo provoked Sister’s and Mr. Whitaker’s relationship and later married the man. Later, Stella-Rondo lies to Papa-Daddy about Sister suggesting that he should shave

Later, Sister and Stella-Rondo have another argument regarding Shirley-T. Sister insists that the girl cannot speak, which displeases Stella-Rondo and makes Mama upset. Mother suggests that Sister should apologize to Stella-Rondo. Sister refuses to apologize and enters an argument with Mama. As a result, Stella-Rondo convinces Uncle Rondo that Sister said he looked like a fool in her housecoat. Stella-Rondo's lie aggravates him, now he is upset with Sister. Because of Stella-Rondo’s lies, everybody is angry with Sister, so, she decides to leave home and live at the post office, where she works. The central idea of the story is that jealousy causes tension and hostility between people and often clouds one’s

The family lives right next to the smallest P.O. in Mississippi: “I have always been grateful though this is the next to smallest P.O. in the state of Mississippi” (Welty 165). China Grove is a town that is so small that once the family split, the members of the town had to pick sides. After everyone turned against Sister, she collected everything she could, and she moved to the post office. This setting relates to the central idea because it helps show what happened to the family because their judgments were clouded.

The narrator and protagonist of this story is Sister, the town’s postmistress. Stella-Rondo, the younger sister of the narrator, is the antagonist. Stella-Rondo keeps turning the other members of the family against Sister by telling them lies about Sister: “Stella-Rondo hadn't done a thing but turn her against me from upstairs while I stood there helpless over the hot stove. So that made Mama, Papa-Daddy and the baby all on Stella-Rondo’s side” (Welty 167). These characters relate to the central idea because it helps give an example of jealousy and hostility toward other