Benito Cereno And Why I Live At The P. O

‘Benito Cereno’ and ‘Why I live at the P.O’
“Benito Cereno” is a novella by Herman Melville, a fictionalized account about the revolt on a Spanish slavery ship captained by Don Benito, published in 1855.
Often, authors of short story present a deeper meaning to their stories, different from the simple interpretations that might be accompanied by the story. This deeper meaning is meant to challenge the reader into a certain theme or point that the author seeks to indicate. One of the ways through which authors can present a different meaning to their works is through symbolism. Symbols are a representation of a different aspect or object. Through the use of symbols, authors can present a totally different aspect from that perceived by the reader.

This story describes main character’s uneventful life in China Grove is interrupted by the arrival of her sister, Stella-Rondo, who has just left her husband and returned to the family home in Mississippi. Because Stella-Rondo destroyed her sister’s uneventful life and broke her relationships with everyone in this family, her sister who is speaker in this story had to move to the post office for living. Eudora Welty’s ‘Why I Live at the P.O’ makes use of symbolism as a mechanism of communicating the many themes that surround it. Welty’s story incorporates the radio and the post office as important symbols that enable the author to tie together and give meaning to the narrative presented. The radio is used to symbolize the increase in isolation. It presented the only way through which the family could be able to gain any form of knowledge or the outside world since they did not want to go back to the Post Office again. When Sister leaves with the radio, she goes away with the one form of equipment that could be used to link the family to the general world. With the radio gone, the family is thrown in further isolation. The post office is also symbol of isolation. It epitomizes the isolation faced by Sister as she vows not to go back to her family home. She vows to stay in the post office until her sister or family could come and seek to establish relationship with her. Through her words “Here I am, and here I stay” (Rubenstein & Larson 941) Sister asserts that she is going to be happy at the post office. The post office also symbolizes isolation in that it enhances the stance that the family took. Through pointing out that they will not send or receive letters anymore, the Sister’s family stamp heir isolation from Sister and the rest of the world. When Sister said that the only way that the family