Discussion questions why i live at the po

Critical Essay Topics for Further Study. Compare and Contrast. What Do I Read Next? Further Study. Copyright Information. Petrified Man. Why I Live at the P. Discussion Questions Eudora Welty. This Study Guide consists of approximately 73 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Why I Live at the P. Print Word PDF.

Furthermore, the incidents in which Stella-Rondo deliberately exaggerates or misinterprets Sister's words are retaliation for similar acts of social warfare by Sister, such as the attempt to convince Mama that Shirley T. Eudora Welty makes frequent use of euphemisms in this story.

Provide some examples and discuss how the use of euphemisms helps with character development. Examples of euphemisms include when Shirley T. The narrator means to say that the child vomited. Other euphemisms include the word "prescription" to mean a bottle of alcohol, "poisoned" to mean drunk", "in France" to mean hung over, and "Judgement day, going to meet her whole family" as a euphemism for death.

In the family's style of speech, people use euphemism to avoid explicitly stating something they are afraid of or believe is disagreeable.

By doing so, they identify what kinds of facts or reality frighten or disgust them. Their selection of some kinds of euphemism but not others indirectly illustrate what their values, prejudices, and sensitivities are like. For example, using the word "Negroes" to describe household employees is offensive to a modern reader, who would be more likely to ignore the ethnicity of the employees unless it was directly relevant to the story, or to use the phrase "African-American" if their ethnicity was relevant.

The fact that the narrator uses such a word suggests two things: first, that the narrator and her family had a cultural association between their employees' ethnicity and their status relative to the family, and second, that the narrator was not African-American herself which has already been suggested during the Shirley Temple discussion.

Although the narrator, "Sister", initially says that everything was going well until Stella-Rondo's arrival, the portions of her back-story show that Sister and Stella-Rondo have a long-standing rivalry. Furthermore, Sister is just as manipulative and petty as Stella-Rondo but the pettiness is shown chiefly in her actions since Sister does not exhibit awareness of her own weaknesses.

Grudges appear one at a time. First Stella-Rondo stole Sister's birthday, having been born exactly one year later. Then she behaved with callous disrespect for her belongings, discarding valuable things such as her Add-A-Pearl necklace.

D Assuming that the story's geographical and historical location is important—as you, no doubt, agree—what my Welty want to say about the American South, its attitudes and lifestyles? What do you know about the South either from history books, literature, or the media? How do your notions about the South correspond, or not correspond, to the South presented in the story?

Does the fact that Sister tells the story—as say, opposed to Stella-Rondo—make a difference in terms of portraying the South? E Locate and analyze—in as much detail as possible—the passages that refer to the P. Answer key included. Total Pages. Report this Resource to TpT. Reported resources will be reviewed by our team. More from LITiosyncrasies See all 8 resources. Keep in Touch! Sign Up.