Introduction
Why ‘I live at the P.O’ and ‘Hills like White Elephants’ are two short stories based on different issues. The following discussion will compare and contrast these two short stories.
Summary of Why I live at P.O
In this story Stella is the younger sister of Eudora. She was recently married to Mr. Whitaker but they later separated. Eudora complains that prior to her sister’s marriage; she was relating with Mr. Whitaker. However, their relationship did not last for long since Stella revealed to Mr. Whitaker her sisters negative issues, which contributed to the termination of their relationship.
After the separation, Stella went back home with a child, Shirley-T, whom she claimed was adopted. One day while they were taking their meal at the table, Eudora commented that Shirley looked like Papa-Daddy, only that she had no beard. The statement annoyed Stella so much that she turned Papa-Daddy against Eudora. Their grandfather got offended and stopped eating. Stella made him believe that he was insulted by her sister because of his beard. He could not understand why Eudora said that he should cut his beard ( Welty, 1941, par. 5).
According to Papa-Daddy, he thought that Eudora did not appreciate his efforts to get her a job as a postmistress. From his annoyance, he left to go and sit outside. The argument was caused by Stella who made her grandfather believe that he was offended by Erodora. After sometime, uncle Rondo Arrived and Eudora told him what had happened. He then went outside to talk to Papa-Daddy who was sleeping on a hammock. The two had a conversation; meanwhile Eudora went upstairs to Speak to Stella who was staring through the window. She claimed that uncle Rondo was wearing part of her trousseau out in the broad daylight. Stella and her sister got into a brief argument again as the issue of the child came up again. Eudora left her sister’s room and went downstairs where their mum was. Uncle Rondo was always on Eudora’s side though Stella also influenced his negative attitude towards her sister. Stella told their uncle that her sister had criticized what he was wearing. Everyone in the house was against Eudora and all of them were on Stella’s side ( Welty, 1941, par. 6).
It was at this point that Eudora decided to go and live at the Post Office, since everyone opposed her. She went to the extent of accusing that Shirley-T had no manners as she was sticking out the tongue at her in a horrible way. As she left the house, she knew that something had gone wrong between Stella and Mr. Whitaker. She even told her family about what she thought of the two. Uncle Rondo, Stella and Papa Daddy did not oppose the shifting. Papa Daddy even said he would not go to the Post Office where her grandchild was going to stay. For Mama, all she wanted was for Eudora to apologize to her sister although it was in vain. She left her home and got assistance from a ‘girl’ whom she met. Eudora moved into her new home where she liked having everything she wanted like radio and a sewing machine. She was happy with her new home ( Welty, 1941, par. 7).
The other story, Hills like White Elephants, is about an American man who had gone with a certain girl to a place where they had drinks. They were sited outside the main building where they could view their scenery clearly. Across the place where they were sited, they could see hills which the girl said looked like white elephants. They sipped their drinks while admiring their scenery, but at one point they had a minor argument (Hemmingway, 1927, par. 8).
Comparison
Comparing the first story (Why I live at the P.O) and the second one (Hills like White Elephants); one observes that in both stories, there is an element of conflict. In story Hills like White Elephants, the American man and the girl argued briefly. Similarly in the other story Why I live at the P.O, there is also an element of conflict where Stella often quarreled with her sister Eudora. In addition, both stories used past and present tenses to express their plot. Moreover, both stories used direct quotations evident in the presence of direct speech in the stories.
Contrast
In the story Why I live at the P.O, the playwright had given names to the characters, while in the other story Hills like White Elephants, no names have been given to characters. In additional, in the story Why I live at the P.O is more of a narrative, as the narrator is the one who narates the story. On the other hand, in the story Hills like White Elephants it is a story told by a third person. More than three characters can be observed from Why I live at the P.O., they include Stella, Papa, Sheila-T and Uncle Rondo. There is also an aspect of separation as Stella left her husband to go and stay with her family. The Eudora also left her family to go and stay at the Post Office. In Hills like White Elephants, there were only three characters; the man, the girl and the lady who served. Even though there was a bit of argument, the man and the girl did not separate, unlike in victims in the story Why I live at the P.O.V.
References
Hemmingway, E. (1927).Hills Like White Elephants. Web.
Welty, E. (1941).Why I live at the P.O. Southern U.S: Mississippi. Web.