Why I Live at the P.O.

“Why I Live at the P.O.” is a short story written in 1941 by Eudora Welty, an author and photographer from the American South. The story’s narrator, Sister, narrates her family’s reaction as her sister, Stella-Rondo, leaves her husband and returns to the family’s home in China Grove, Mississippi, surprising her family with a young child in tow. As conflict unfolds among the family members, Sister moves into the post office where she works, seeking independence. The story explores themes of independence, family conflict, and truth and perception.

First published in the Atlantic in 1941, the short story was released later that year as a part of Welty’s first short story collection, A Curtain of Green. Welty claimed that she was inspired to write the story by a photograph she found of a woman ironing at the post office. It remains one of Welty’s most renowned short stories and is even the basis of an opera with music composed by Stephen Eddins.

Other works by this author include The Optimist's Daughter, The Ponder Heart, and Death of a Traveling Salesman.