Why I Live at the P.O.

Content Warning: This section of the guide references includes outdated and offensive language, including racist and misogynistic slurs that are replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material.

Comedic in tone and centered around a multigenerational household of eccentric characters, Eudora Welty’s look at small-town Southern life in the 1940s is considered by many scholars to exemplify Southern Gothic literature, although Welty herself disdained the label. Scholar Ruth Weston argues that Welty better represents “escape fiction” with gothic landscapes rather than Southern Gothic, as Welty explores how women “escape” cultural and social limitations in a search for independence and individualization (Weston, Ruth. Gothic Traditions and Narrative Techniques in the Fiction of Eudora Welty, LSU Press, 1994). While Sister expresses a sense of satisfaction at the end of the story, the degree to which she actually escapes her circumstances is minimal.

The rural Mississippi setting plays an integral part of the story, as the story’s characters reflect a sense of being both isolated in and entrapped by small-town life. For instance, while Sister takes pride in her position as postmistress, that her tiny town has the second-smallest post office in the state of Mississippi is notable since the state is dotted with other small, rural towns.