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Content Warning: This section of the guide references includes outdated and offensive language, including racist and misogynistic slurs that are replicated in this guide only in direct quotes of the source material.

Sister is the only name offered for the story’s narrator. Sister establishes herself as the story’s protagonist, with nearly every other character opposed to her and her goals—at least in her own mind, as Sister’s narration reflects only her perspective on the events that shape the story. Despite her self-positioning, Sister is also an antagonizing character. In the first lines, she claims that the family was “getting along great” until Stella-Rondo returned home with a child (43). The first descriptor found in the first paragraph is from Stella-Rondo, who tells Mr. Whitaker that Sister is “one-sided.” Though Sister translates this to mean “bigger on one side than the other” (43), the story goes on to imply via Sister’s unreliable narration that her perspective is, in fact, one-sided.

The oldest sister by exactly one year, Sister takes on the domestic duties of the household and is resentful when Stella-Rondo’s arrival leaves her scrambling to feed the family and make green-tomato pickles, which she sees as the “duty” of the Black domestic help.