Family as Theater in Eudora Welty's Why I Live at the P.O. The outspoken narrator of Eudora Welty's "Why I Live at the P.O.," known to us only as "Sister," intends to convince us--the world at large--that her family has "turned against" her, led on by her sister, itella-Rondo. To escape her family, she explains, she has left home and now lives at the P.O., where she is postmistress. As she delivers her monologue, the narrator reveals more about herself than she intends. We see her as a self-centered young woman who enjoys picking fights and provoking melodramatic scenes in which she is the center of attention. Not too far into the story, we realize that others in the family behave as melodramatically as Sister does, and we begin to wonder why. The story's setting may provide the answer: In a small town in Mississippi, sometime after World War II and before television, entertainment is scarce. The members of this family cope with isolation and boredom by casting themselves in a continning melodrama, with each person stealing as many scenes as possible. The first-person point of view is crucial to the theme of Welty's story. It is both quicker and funnier to show that the narrator is self-centered and melodramatic than it would be to tell it. Sister is definitely the star in the melodrama. She begins her tale with "I," and every event is made to revolve around herself, even her sister's marriage: I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again. Mr. Whitaker! Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared here in China Grove, taking "Pose Yourself" photos, and Ste... ... middle of paper ... ...eful to show us, the narrator is not the only self-centered, melodramatic member of this family. Given the family history, we can be fairly sure that things will soon be back to normal. The narrator will move back home, and the family, welcoming the diversion, will no doubt find a way of turning her homecoming into a new round of excitement. Works Cited Prenshaw, Peggy Whitman, ed. Conversations with Eudora Welty. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1984. Romines, Ann. "How Not to Tell a Story." Eudora Welty: Eye of the Storyteller. Ed. Dawn Trouard. Kent: Kent State UP, 1989. 94-104. Welty, Eudora. The Eye of the Story: Selected Essays and Reviews. New York: Vintage, 1979. ---. One Writer's Beginnings. New York: Warner, 1984. ---. "Why I Live at the P.O." The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. New York: Harcourt, 1980. 46-56.
Stella-Rondo returns to the house with a child during the middle of dinner, and Sister is feeling greatly offended by this and shows us her arrogance and dismay that she’s losing the center of attention when she says “There I was o...
- -. “Women and History in Peter Taylor’s Short Stories.” Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 33.1 (Fall 1994): 41-46.
At first reading the short story which was a listed full of satire, it sounds like Welty is a jealous, spoiled older sibling who thinks much of herself and nothing of her sister. How she points out little things like the hat her sister is wearing starts showing how she focus on appearance could also symbolize the fact her sister is always getting nice things and not appreciating them, another example of her taking Mr. Whitaker from Wetly. Once you get further into the story, you find that many of he...
In the opening paragraph, the author sets a brisk and detailed tone to describe that the relationship between the narrator's family was very closed. For example, they sent the letters every week, and after war was over, they went back to visit them every summer. The author also describes each person’s appearance and personality, such as Aunt J. was thin and she had a romantic figure. Before the narrator's dream came true, her aunts and family gave her much support, such as they took her to visit the Canadian Authors’ Association, and went to visit Ernest Buckler. In the publication of the narrator's first book, she uses her mother and aunts’ scandalizing stories without their permission. Her aunts only said, “it was wonderful−a real book! ” and “here were certain things that were not said and done in her generation, but they could be said and done by mine, and more power to me for doing them”. For the aunts, the story was like a passing of something from one generation to another. Now, this was on the narrator's
Southern speech is primarily narrative and frequently takes the form of tall tales, folk tales, and local legends. This holds true in Welty's writing, in which one will not find mere conversation, but the telling of a story. Often with Welty, the story is not told through the narrator, but rather by the characters (53). It is through this structure that the dramatic monologue appears. In Welty's "Why I Live at the P.O.," the postmistress of China Grove, referred to only as "Sister," is systematically alienated from her family following a fight with her sister, Stella-Rondo, whom she accuses of stealing and running off with her boyfriend, Mr. Whitaker. As the two sisters compete for the support of the family, one by one the family members take up sides with Stella-Rondo, and Sister states her case to the reader. "Stella-Rondo hadn't done a thing but turn her against me from upstairs while I stood there helpless over the hot stove," rants Sister. "So that made Mama, Papa-Daddy, and the baby all on Stella-Rondo's side (Welty 102).
Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume D. 8th ed. New York: W.
Eudora Welty writes with feeling and her “Emphasis is on varying combinations of theme, character, and style.” (Kinc...
Having the setting take place in a house where the narrator herself feels uncomfortable, it does not help to give her restrictions in an area in which she is already unhappy. “I am afraid, but I don’t care ---- there is something strange about the house ---- I can feel it” (...
Eudora Welty, the author of 'The Little Store,' is also the narrator in her story. Upon looking back at her childhood, Eudora realized she was a creative little girl who liked to read and to write. She had the naivety of a child. The town where I was born is only 150 miles from where Eudora was raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Therefore, I really enjoyed this story because I really felt like I could relate to it. West Point, where I was born, resembles Jackson a great deal. We had a little store that was in town and we always felt safe to walk there alone. We also knew everyone on the block, just as Eudora did.
The theme of these stories can be determined through an analysis of the narrator's attitude toward the characters in each story. The narrator in "The Necklace" reflects a disapproving opinion of Mathilde. He believes that Mathilde is snobby and too concerned with her social image: "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains" (66). Through this description of her personality, the narrator illustrates his notion that Mathilde feels that she deserves a wealthier, upper class existence. The narrator also exhibits his beliefs in stating, "She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would so have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after" (63). In these sentences, the narrator reveals his ideas about Mathilde and her concern for the way others view her.
Since the very day of her birth, Mathidle has constantly chased after the affluent existence as she fantasizes that women like her friend, Madam Forestier, relish. Through her husband’s invitation to the minister’s gala, she adorns herself in a fine dress and a priceless diamond necklace, and transforms her into a beautiful envied person far from her usual impoverished disposition. However, after she loses the necklace, replaces it, and repays the debts, she finds pleasure within her “new” life as a lower class woman, which is who she was destined to
Lessing, Doris. "A Woman on a Roof." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. 856-862.
Between misplacing priorities and self-absorption Mathilde Loisel is created in the story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Mathilde has just about everything a woman could want: remarkable beauty, a loving husband, and a comfortable lifestyle. Material riches are the only category in which she believes she is inadequate to other women. This one factor sets up the conflict present in the story. Throughout the turmoil she must endure, due to her egotistical ways, one would think she would have a change in heart and mindset. Mathilde has a dissatisfied disposition that does not evolve even as her situation does; she is disgruntled being in the middle class, as well as attending a first class event, and ultimately being in the working class.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide is a rising controversial problem in the world. Many people are against the idea of helping someone 'kill themselves'. This is a problem because many people who have had fatal incidents and are left with chronic conditions live everyday in pain, mental suffering, and emotional suffering. Euthanasia and assited sucide is to help someone who no longer wants to live, pass on. A poll taken by CBS News asked respondents if they thought "a doctor should be allowed to assist the person in taking their own life" who "has a disease that will ultimately destroy their mind or body and they want to take their own life." About 56 percent of Americans said yes and 37 percent said no. This close tie of public opinion has been continuous throughout many years, but euthanasia and assisted sucide has not been legalized in the United States.
In Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, Austen reveals a sparkling comedy of love and marriage, wit, form, and feeling that achieve some type of balance between pride and prejudice. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett illustrate how comic characterization can be used to reveal different marital situations. Pride and Prejudice shows many aspects of marriage and demonstrates how one can make the most of their life regardless of the circumstances. Elizabeth and Darcy have discovered themselves through their differences and the loss of their pride and their prejudices. The traits pride and prejudice can be seen as desirable merits: self-respect and intelligence. Pride and Prejudice shows that human nature can be influenced by the society in which one subscribes.