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Essay on The Dysfunctional Family in Why I Live at the P.O.

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Everyone wants a perfect family, but nothing is ever perfect. The family in “Why I Live at the P.O.” is most definitely less than perfect. When Stella-Rondo returns to her old home after leaving her husband and bringing her small child who she claims is adopted, much conflict in the family increases. Stella-Rondo turns every family member living in the household against Sister, her older sister, and every family member betrays Sister by believing the lies Stella-Rondo tells about Sister to them. Through much turmoil and distress, Sister becomes so overwhelmed with the unending conflict that she feels she must leave her home and live at the post office. In “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Eudora Welty strongly implies that the function of the …show more content…

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family. After deciding to move to the post office, Sister’s point of view towards her uncle, mother, and grandfather changes, yet it remains the same towards her sister. While Sister was living at the house, she mentioned at the very beginning of the story that she “was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle Rondo” (Welty 40). Also, she refers to her uncle as being “a good case of a one-track mind” (Welty 43); this is positively stating that her uncle is only focused on one certain thing and nothing else.
All of these examples of Sister’s point of view towards most of her family are positive, yet these positive points of view quickly change when Sister decides to move to the post office. For example, Sister is very sarcastic with her

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