Free Essays on I Stand Here Ironing

In the short story â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen, a mother looks back at her life as her daughter’s parent. In this short story the main characters are a mother and her daughter named Emily. The story is being mentally told by a mother, while ironing, explaining her daughter’s life from an infant to her teenage years. The mother is recalling Emily’s life due to being contacted by a possible counselor at Emily’s school. The mother’s painful reminiscence reflects the theme that a parent’s sincere efforts in raising children are often hampered by outside forces. There is a point in Emily’s life that shows her mother’s sincere efforts in rearing her daughter with the best intentions. The mother is monetarily providing for her daughter but sacrificing the mother-daughter bonding time. The mother is thinking about the time when Emily was eight months old and she had to leave her with a babysitter. The reason due to the mother taking a job and looking for more work was to support her new daughter. Emily’s father left her mother because he â€Å"could no longer endure (he wrote in his good-bye note).† The mother would leave Emily in the daytime â€Å"with the woman downstairs to whom she was no miracle at all.† The mother was nineteen when she gave birth to Emily during the â€Å"pre-relief, pre-WPA (Work Projects Administration) world of depression.† Emily’s mother â€Å"After a while [she] found a job hashing at night so [she] could be with [Emily] days. But it came to where [she] had t o bring her to [Emily’s father’s] family and leave her.† This is just one of the incidents that make the mother question her parenting practices. It seems that no matter what the mother tries to do to help the best interest of her daughter, it does not turn out as she planned. The mother continues to reflect upon Emily’s past years and their life struggles. The mother is still questioning her parental skills... Free Essays on I Stand Here Ironing Free Essays on I Stand Here Ironing Journal for I stand here Ironing In Tillie Olsen’s short autobiographical story I Stand Here Ironing, she gives the reader a glimpse into her life, the choices she made as a mother, and a single parent. The question of whom or what is to blame for Emily’s problematic childhood remains a mystery though, even after having read the story. Does the blame lie on the shoulders of the mother, or is it the circumstances of the world Emily was born into? When analyzing it psychologically, you could even (since the story is an autobiography in which she portrays herself as the mother) attribute the plight to the manner in which the mother was raised. You could even venture out and blame Emily for her own misfortune. The unfortunate circumstances that Emily was born into seem to contribute largely to Emily’s calamity. The mother â€Å"believes,† or tells herself and the person with whom she is speaking, that things such as her husbands abandonment, and her struggling economic situation gave way to little or no chance of proper care and nurturing. She even hints that the volatility of the socioeconomic and political situation of war contributed by mentioning in her final affirmation that she is a â€Å"child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear.† There is no doubt that the mother feels that Emily has been deprived of a â€Å"normal† childhood as defined by the social standards of the time, but never really claims herself as responsible for it. She also implies inadvertently that Emily’s character, or lack there of, contributes to her calamity. She hints at this by giving examples that portray Emily as passive and pessimistic. She speaks of Emily’s lack of â€Å"direct protest and rebellion.† She claims that Emily never had â€Å"the explosions, the tempers, the denunciations, the demands† that were common to three and four year old children. This implies that Emily was too passive, and was not clear enough when expre... Free Essays on I Stand Here Ironing In the short story â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen, a mother looks back at her life as her daughter’s parent. In this short story the main characters are a mother and her daughter named Emily. The story is being mentally told by a mother, while ironing, explaining her daughter’s life from an infant to her teenage years. The mother is recalling Emily’s life due to being contacted by a possible counselor at Emily’s school. The mother’s painful reminiscence reflects the theme that a parent’s sincere efforts in raising children are often hampered by outside forces. There is a point in Emily’s life that shows her mother’s sincere efforts in rearing her daughter with the best intentions. The mother is monetarily providing for her daughter but sacrificing the mother-daughter bonding time. The mother is thinking about the time when Emily was eight months old and she had to leave her with a babysitter. The reason due to the mother taking a job and looking for more work was to support her new daughter. Emily’s father left her mother because he â€Å"could no longer endure (he wrote in his good-bye note).† The mother would leave Emily in the daytime â€Å"with the woman downstairs to whom she was no miracle at all.† The mother was nineteen when she gave birth to Emily during the â€Å"pre-relief, pre-WPA (Work Projects Administration) world of depression.† Emily’s mother â€Å"After a while [she] found a job hashing at night so [she] could be with [Emily] days. But it came to where [she] had t o bring her to [Emily’s father’s] family and leave her.† This is just one of the incidents that make the mother question her parenting practices. It seems that no matter what the mother tries to do to help the best interest of her daughter, it does not turn out as she planned. The mother continues to reflect upon Emily’s past years and their life struggles. The mother is still questioning her parental skills...