In Eudora Welty's Why I Live At The P. O.

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An essential quality individuals possess is the ability to vividly tell a story through their own eyes. The person telling the story can transform themselves into a multitude of different personas. They can become the victim or the hero by simply choosing to include or exclude important details of a story. A great storyteller can effortlessly tell a story from their point-of-view. In “Why I live at the P.O.” Eudora Welty masterfully chooses to tell Sisters story in a first-person point of view in order to illustrate the difference between a reliable and unreliable narrator. By telling a story in this fashion, the author leaves it up to the reader to determine what is true and what is false. Limiting a story to first-person point-of-view…show more content…
Sister feels strongly that Stella played a key role in the breakup of her boyfriend. There is a strong sense of jealousy on Sisters behalf, as she feels Stella ruins everything that she comes in contact with (Welty 89). The perspective of Sisters experience in the beginning of the story explains from her point-of-view why she feels entitled to everything Stella has. As Sister begins to accuse Stella for adopting a child, it becomes quite clear that Sister is out for blood. Regardless of what her family thinks, Sister is confident Shirley-T is Stella’s adopted daughter (Welty 90-91). Because Sister is unable to see her manipulation and jealousy being one sided, she is starting to represent herself as an untrustworthy narrator. The only view that matters is that of Sisters. When Sister sees Uncle Rondo strut about wearing a flesh-colored kimono she wastes no time making sure her opinion is heard. Stella immediately jumps to Uncle Rondo’s defense accusing Sister of mocking her Uncle (Welty 93-95). Sister responds to the accusation by saying “I stood up for Uncle Rondo, please remember.” (Welty 93). With that single statement Sister is able to call upon the reader to validate her claim that she is the victim and her sister is being a

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