Jealousy between siblings materializes because one of them feels overshadowed by the other. For girls, this translates into a lack of confidence. If a girl loses to her younger or older sister, insecurity builds up, often causing hostility between them. In "Why I Live in PO" by Eudora Welty, Sister's resentment toward her sister hinders her ability to become independent. Stella-Rondo brings out a jealousy in Sister which causes tension between them. The sister hates that Stella-Rondo married Mr. Whitaker since the sister would have had him first. She feels like Stella-Rondo broke them by lying. Most likely, sister is upset because she wasn't the one who ended up with the guy she liked, but she displays her feelings in a childish way. Her sister's sarcastic comments towards her are the real reason Stella-Rondo turns their family against her. Stella-Rondo's lies about her daughter, Shirley T., increase Sister's feelings of jealousy. Stella-Rondo claims that Shirley-T. is adopted, but sister doesn't believe her. Sister wants her family to find out about Stella-Rondo's lies and realize that this two-year-old is not adopted. She points out that Shirley-T. is the “spitting image of Papa-Papa” (359). The sister can't stand that Stella-Rondo left Mr. Whitaker after only two years of marriage to him. The fact that “the first thing she did was break up!” From Mr. Whitaker! » when Stella-Rondo married and moved away, she exasperated Sister (359). Therefore, sister makes sure her family knows she got it first. In the heat of the moment, at the end of the story, Sister starts saying that Mr. Whitaker left Stella-Rondo, not the other way around, which only creates more tension. Sister's family upsets her because she tends to take Stella-Ro away. .... middle of paper ......s that her family will come to her and beg her to return home. When she realizes that they won't do this, she will return to them and life will continue as she has always known it. Sister's frustration with Stella-Rondo is hindering their relationship, and even if Sister thinks she wants to break free from her family, her embarrassment will prevent her from achieving that. The sister acts hastily on the matter of moving in order to gain independence. Independence comes from experience, not from shared decisions made in haste. This quote from Steve Schmidt explains what Sister quickly discovered over the past five days: “The price of independence is often isolation and loneliness. » Works cited Welty, Eudora. “Why I live in PO” Discovering a voice: a rhetoric for Writers. University of West Alabama, Texas: Fountainhead, 2009. 359-67..