Emily's mother is portrayed as the narrator in the story “I Stand Here Ironing”. When a counselor from school comes to her house to discuss some concerns with Emily, her mother begins to reflect on the guilt and regret she feels toward how Emily was raised and the difficult childhood she had. The mother feels defeated as she thinks back to the mistakes she made as a mother. As a single mother, she faced extreme poverty and terrible conditions. The mother recalls her life of self-denial, deprivation
I Stand Here Ironing Point of View In first person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story, not just an outside observer. This requires them to use the pronoun “I” throughout the story. In ‘I Stand Here Ironing’, Tillie Olsen uses the first-person point of view to show the mother’s pain and regrets related to her daughter’s childhood. Readers can only see the main character’s (the mother’s) thoughts and feelings. They never get to see how the daughter is feeling or what she is thinking
Summary of “I Stand Here Ironing” Tillie Olsen shows in “I Stand Here Ironing,” an emotive story about the relationship of a woman and her daughter. The woman is a young mother; she had her older child, Emily, at the age of 19. In the story, she is speaking over the phone, perhaps with a social worker, telling how she was struggling to take care of her older daughter and how she felt guilty about her daughter’s unhappy childhood. Emily’s mother admitted she was a distracted mother, but she also experienced
“I Stand Here Ironing”, by Tillie Olsen, is more meaningful because of its point of view. The story is told by a mother and the story is really just a collection of memories about her oldest child, Emily. Had the story been told from another point of view, it probably wouldn’t have been as heart wrenching. Nobody wants to see the heartbreak of a mother because a mother’s pain is, undoubtedly, the most intense kind of pain. “I Stand Here Ironing” is a look into a mother’s pain, made even more heartbreaking
Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing”, the reader is presented with the more realistic, harsh side of motherhood. The story is told in a regretful, wistful tone as the mother recounts the abysmal childhood of her oldest daughter, Emily, explaining why she is the person least likely to be able to help her. In “I Stand Here Ironing” Olsen, demonstrates the unrealistic standards parents— mothers specifically—are held too, the differences in single
can completely change the message the author wants to convey to the reader. Tillie Olson, in her short story, I Stand Here Ironing, has become proficient in the art of speaking to specific nodes of our consciousness.
incompatible with these expectations constitute gender non-conformity” (APA). Even though time has past, equality for women is still not achieved. In the short stories “The Story of an Hour”, “Hills Like White Elephants”, “Miss Brill” and “I Stand Here Ironing” all are written by authors that have women protagonists. They focus on the struggles with their gender issues throughout their journey’s. When the women are faced with sticking to the stereotypical
Similar to “they” who lend advice to Emily’s mother, strangers and institutions also pertain to choice. Specifically, Emily’s mother’s decision to repeatedly send Emily away to various strangers and institutions emphasizes the consequences of such choices and the concept that one’s environment may automatically make choices for them. Emily’s mother does not have a choice in where Emily stays, for in order to even remotely provide for Emily, she must find a job and work relentlessly. For instance
blue from a jolly rancher she’s been sucking on, her lips tinged purple with it, and they’re pursed as she irons and Irma has been thinking about how to get her to come closer, to come here since yesterday when Gina C. let it drop that she’d broken up with her girlfriend. Her eyes on hers, direct, “So Krista and I are sooo fucking over...” and Irma looking right
I. Given Circumstances A. Environment and Images 1. Geographical Location The play is set in Le Mans, France. Le Mans is traditionally situated in the former province of Maine, but at present it is the capital of the Sarthe department, located on the Sarthe river, and part of the Pays de la Loire region. It is about 209 to 215 kilometers southwest from Paris. Le Mans is a provincial town in France. Le Mans is an old town. These are present images, but the houses are old. This could possibly