Eudora Welty's "Why I live at the P.O."
...ill hold a grudge. At first thought after reading those sentences, the reader might believe this grudge could be because the speaker was in love with Mr. Whitaker. The previous could be true, or after reading the story or even the next line it could just be that she bringing up a point of something her sister has already ruined for her. The remainder of paragraph one and the beginning lines of the second paragraph could explain the latter statement. “Told him I was one-sided. Bigger on one side than the other, which is a deliberate, calculated falsehood: I'm the same. Stella-Rondo is exactly twelve months to the day younger than I am and for that reason she's spoiled. She's always had anything in the world she wanted and then she'd throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when she was eight years old and she threw it away playing baseball when she was nine, with only two pearls.” At this point the reader would start to understand that the speaker might not have been in love with Mr. Whitaker, but instead just mad and possibly a bit jealous. Her words definitely give the feeling of jealousy when she is speaking of the way Papa-Daddy spoils her, and that she does not appreciate or even want the things she has. The speaker might, more or less, be somewhat complaining. As if the reader could be a friend on the phone, or a relative willing to listen to what is ailing her, or perhaps even a stranger that asked why she is living at the post office. The third paragraph brings about another character and twist in the story, which also happens to be another hassle to our speaker. “ So as soon as she got married and moved away from home the first thing she did was separate! From Mr. Whitaker! This photographer with the popeyes she said she trusted. Came home from one of those towns up in Illinois and to our complete surprise brought this child of two.” The surprise of a child that is two years old. From the use of the word “surprise” it would seem that no one in the family knew about this child. Hence it was a surprise, which is odd. One would think that the birth of a child within marriage would be rather large news among the child’s family. Also from what the speaker has said, it does not seem that Stella-Rondo has been gone for all too long. So the fact that she has a child that is two years old, and the fact that she has not been married to Mr. Whitaker for too long is somewhat suspicious. Also in this paragraph, there is yet again another use of an exclamation point after Mr. Whitaker’s name. This might make the reader revert back to previous thoughts on whether the speaker was n love with Mr. Whitaker or if she was just angry that it was something else her sister ruined. The fact that the speaker once again uses an exclamation point, might hint that the speaker might have possibly had strong feelings for Mr. Whitaker. Or it might simply be because the speaker thinks that it is hard to believe that her sister would have separated from him. The speaker might be using the exclamation point because she thinks Mr. Whitaker is a rather good choice for husband, or has higher standards and she can not take grasp of the fact that her sister separated form him, and not the other way around. The next three paragraphs give a little glimpse as to the character of Stella-Rondo and Mama and the speaker’s idea of both of them. “Mama said she like to made her drop dead for a second. "Here you had this marvelous blonde child and never so much as wrote your mother a word about it," says Mama. "I'm thoroughly ashamed of you." But of course she wasn't. 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!" There I was over the hot stove, trying to stretch two chickens over five people and a completely unexpected child into the bargain, without one moment's notice.” In these paragraphs it is now obvious that the family had not a single clue that Stella-Rondo had a child. In the speaker’s point of view; although Mama says she is ashamed of Stella-Rondo, she says that mama is in all actuality not. The speaker might be saying that to show; once again, that Stella-Rondo is spoiled. This shows that her mama and Papa-Daddy might actually spoil her. It appears that Mama really does not seem to care too much that her daughter has showed up, unannounced, with a child. This is obviously something that is or will be getting on the speakers nerves. Stella-Rondo says that this child is adopted. At once, with the help of the “H’m!” from the speaker, the reader might start to believe that the child may not be adopted due to the character of Stella-Rondo. Once again, the reader might feel again like a friend, relative, or polite stranger when the speaker goes on about how she is doing so much work and it is going unnoticed. Perhaps she might be trying to attain compassion from the reader, possibly to persuade them to her “side”. This also shows another sign of jealousy. The speaker is jealous that she is doing all that work and it is going unnoticed and unappreciated, while her sister that has come with a child that no one has been notified about. The next paragraph reveals a “name” for the speaker. “"What do you mean 'H'm!'?" says Stella-Rondo, and Mama says, "I heard that, Sister." “Sister” is the name given to the speaker. This is the only name given in reference to the speaker throughout the whole story. This paragraph also leads in what seems to be a confrontation. “ I said that oh, I didn't mean a thing, only that whoever Shirley-T. was, she was the spit-image of Papa-Daddy if he'd cut off his beard, which of course he'd never do in the world. Papa-Daddy's Mama's papa and sulks. Stella-Rondo got furious! She said, "Sister, I don't need to tell you you got a lot of nerve and always did have and I'll thank you to make no future reference to my adopted child whatsoever." "Very well," I said. "Very well, very well. Of course I noticed at once she looks like Mr. Whitaker's side too. That frown. She looks like a cross between Mr. Whitaker and Papa-Daddy." "Well, all I can say is she isn't." These few paragraphs reveal that Sister does not believe the child is adopted. For good reasoning, because she looks just like her side of the family and her frown looks like that of Mr. Whitaker. This might make the reader believe that the child really is not adopted. It tends to be somewhat hard to find and adopted child that looks like both halves of the family of the adoptive parents. Also, one would think that even if the child was not Stella-Rondo’s, that she would have still given the family notice that she had adopted a child. The next few paragraphs reveal how Stella-Rondo has started to disturb Sister’s wellness with Papa-Daddy and Mama. Stella-Rondo lies to Papa-Daddy and says that Sister thinks he should cut his beard that eh is so proud of. He then gets angry, calls sister names and complains that sh...