Remember, she has "lived" there for only one week-hardly enough time to call it home.
It is doubtful that she will stay at the P.O.
Sister's insistence that she has left her family forever is highly suspect. Likewise, the fight that splits the town is a farce-little more than rural entertainment to the inhabitants of China Grove. Mama only professes to believe Stella-Rondo. It is clear that Shirley-T.'s parentage is not in question. "I believed to my soul he drank chemicals" (51). Again, when Sister wonders if the child can talk, Mama remembers that Joe Whitaker drank. When Stella-Rondo proclaims, "Why, Mama, Shirley-T.'s adopted, I can prove it," Mama quickly asks, "How?" (46). Actually, Mama believes no such thing, despite her own insistence to the contrary. For instance, Sister tells us that Mama believes Shirley-T. Only by reading between the lines of what Sister says can one grasp Welty's ironic intent. The reader must be prepared to doubt Sister's literal statements. The story is relayed through Sister, whose version of events is inaccurate. Instead she paints an amusing picture of a family squabble. Life in China Grove, Mississippi, is indeed banal, but Welty doesn't dwell on its dreariness. The author leaves many clues to effect this interpretation. Rather than dwell on their apparent spitefulness, though, readers should be prepared to take Welty's characters with a grain of salt. If taken at face value, the characters in "Why I Live at the P.O." present a bleak family portrait: a spiteful woman who leaves her family over a silly quarrel and a family that reciprocates by encouraging the rift.
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