Why I Live at the P.O. | Themes

Individual and Family Identity
Welty’s use of names suggests the degree to which the members of the family in ‘‘Why I Live at the P.O.’’ define themselves in relation to one another. Mama and Papa-Daddy are given no proper names. Stella-Rondo is named after her uncle, and Sister has only a nickname, one that suggests that her entire identity is tied up in her relationship with Stella-Rondo. On the one hand, Sister is completely alienated from her family and their way of dealing with the ‘‘facts of life,’’ but, on the other, her entire way of understanding...

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