Why I Live at the P.O.

by Eudora Welty

Start Free Trial

Discussion Topic

Themes and Setting in "Why I Live at the P.O."

Summary:

The themes in "Why I Live at the P.O." include isolation, family conflict, and independence. The setting is a small Southern town, which highlights the protagonist's feelings of entrapment and desire for self-sufficiency. The story uses the setting to emphasize the protagonist's struggle against familial expectations and societal norms.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What is the theme of "Why I Live at the P.O."?

A theme of “Why I Live at the P.O.” is that sometimes a lie is better than the truth.

This story is about a family squabble.  Sometimes families have to tell each other lies, and accept believing one another’s lies, in order to keep the peace and save face.  Stella-Rondo had to leave her husband Mr. Whitaker.  She is trying to make the best of the situation by telling everyone that her daughter Shirley-T is adopted.  The narrator refuses to believe this lie, but all of the other family members seem to accept it.

Stella-Rondo just calmly takes off this hat, I wish you could see it. She says, "Why, Mama, Shirley-T.'s adopted, I can prove it."
 "How?" says Mama, but all I says was, "H'm!"

Mama seems willing to accept this explanation, and the other family members accept Shirley-T.  The narrator does not, and Stella-Rondo is annoyed at her...

Unlock
This Answer Now

Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

and uses it to turn things she says against her to antagonize other members of the family, such as when she says the narrator wanted to know why Papa-daddy did not shave his beard.  Papa-daddy is very proud of his beard, and this infuriates him.  The narrator denies it, but he continues to believe Stella-Rondo.

Family members’ continued acceptance of Stella-Rondo’s word over the narrator’s is an example of how they have accepted that sometimes it is better to tell a little lie than to tell the truth.  If Stella-Rondo admitted that she had a child out of wedlock, it would be intolerable for other family members.  It is much easier for everyone to accept both of them into family and ignore the narrator’s objections.

References

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What is the setting of "Why I Live at the P.O."?

The setting of “Why I Live at the P.O.” is the family home in China Grove, Mississippi at the turn of the twentieth century.

There is a small post office in China Grove, Mississippi that connects it to the outside world.  China Grove is a small, rural community where there are few residents and even fewer visitors.  In fact, when a traveling photographer shows up, the two sisters fight over him.

Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared here in China Grove, taking "Pose Yourself" photos, and Stella-Rondo broke us up. 

Since the sisters are from a family that is prominent in tiny China Grove, the sisters have fewer prospects.  Neither of them seems to be very smart, so they are not going to be able to go off to college or get a job.  It would be frowned upon for women of their status.  As a result, both end up bitter and alone. 

References

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What is the theme of "Why I Live at the P.O."?

To get to theme, home in on the details of narrative voice and setting to see what larger ideas rise to the surface.

NARRATIVE VOICE: Sister tells the tale, and the first question one must ask of a first-person narrator is, What kind of a person are we dealing with and the second question is, Is she a reliable narrator?

Who is she? The first paragraph will tell you everything in what she says about others. How does she characterize her sister, Stella-Rondo and their relationship? Full of conflict and lies. When a character begins a story telling you how a fight is all someone else's fault, don't red flags go up, making you wonder if the person is telling you the whole truth? Take the phrase, "deliberate, calculated falsehood": Sister doesn't just say, "My sister lies"; she says, "She deliberately and calculatingly lies." It's a voice that makes its point in pedantic, teacherly style, driving the point home, and demonstrative of someone who thinks she's always right. The paragraph ends with a judgment -- that Stella-Rondo is "spoiled." When we're getting a confrontational, ugly tone already from Sister, accusations flying, and we've only just met her, don't we get a bit suspicious?

I advise you to home in on several paragraphs this way to find evidence of a judgmental, accusatory voice, Sister who is always wronged, always vengeful, and always in the middle of some dust-up with a relative. Note she has tiffs if not all-out wars with at least 4 people in the story.

So, already we are on the cusp of theme: judgmental attitude, sibling rivalry, reliability, lies, pettiness, small-mindness, myopic views....note I've mentioned several big ideas. There isn't just one, but you may be able to link a few to get to a larger statement of theme. See the eNotes link below for more discussion.

SETTING: Back to the ideas of reliability and lies: It's not to say that Stella-Rondo isn't spoiled or the favorite child or that Sister is a complete liar. In fact, the overall setting confirms some of Sister's accusations. Remember that setting has many components: geographical location, time of day, time of year, century and historical period, and physical locations inhabited by characters (natural or manmade). There's also emotional atmosphere that is generated by these subcategories of setting. The setting is artfully constructed by Welty to show us a small-minded place where tempers flare as a matter of course. Let's look at a few aspects where you can draw out evidence of ideas in action.

Physical Location: China Grove, MS is a small town. (Do small-minded people reside there?) What details tell you that the place is set in its ways, not too diverse, and puts people in boxes?

Time of Year: It's summer and "hotter'n Hades" (not a quote, but someone might well have said it). Fourth of July, too, where people celebrate by setting off...what? Do you see how heat and explosives contribute to an emotional atmosphere of ....? Fill in that blank with a descriptive phrase.

Century/Historical Period: How do we know it's not the South of 1900, 1960, or 2009? (It's 1941. Where was technology, where were race relations, what world events were occurring?) There's radio, there's Jim Crow segregation, and WW I is happening. Think about how aspects of daily life such as these three elements contribute to theme.

We are just scratching the surface. Dig deep into individual lines and scenes and you'll find theme.

Approved by eNotes Editorial