“Let her be. So all that is in her will not bloom-but in how many does it? There is still enough left to live by” (Olsen 425). Let her become her own person. Let her see life for her own and remind her that there’s always hope because there’s always life. "I stand here ironing" by Tillie Olsen was very personal story to me. I can relate to Emily because I’ve been in her shoes. The mother was only nineteen when she had her first child. She was young but old enough know what's right and what's wrong. I have a lot of disagreement with the mother’s actions throughout the story. In the short story it demonstrates the learning of helplessness by the life of poverty and the lack of any help from anyone. With no help financially, lack from help …show more content…
This line stood with me throughout my reading because she said she was a miracle and with that I tried to figure out when she didn't become such a miracle anymore. In this time period I know that it must have been extremely hard for the mother due to the erupting poverty line. Even with poverty as a women you supposed to be strong and get through it and be strong for yours. A counselor becomes concerned Emily at school. “I wish you would manage time to come in and talk with me about your daughter. I'm sure you can help me better understand her. She's a youngster who needs help and whom I'm deeply interested in helping.' (Olsen, 292). The mother goes on to say “Who needs help. Even if I came what good would it do? You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you can use me as a key'? (Olsen, 3). One can conclude that Emily and her mother didn't have a strong relationship, and by the way the mother responds to the person on the phone it feels as though she regrets not building that relationship with Emily. The mother’s depiction of Emily is how she stresses the differences between them. She feels as though Emily is to separate from her, based on how she dealt with Emily in her childhood. The first time she gives her away she’s with family but just because its family doesn’t mean that’s always best. The Mother went to pick Emily up one day from her husband's family’s house and she was is in such …show more content…
Emily didn’t have someone to go sand talk to that said “everything was going to be ok”. Despite everything that has been happening to her since she came out the womb she has survived. Emily will only survive not because she wants to but because she has to. She had a talent and that was making people laugh. Even when she had nothing but hurt throughout her life her gift was making others smile. Emily had entered a talent show and she won first place. The only way from getting out of poverty or a bad situation is to be better and overcome it. I know what it feels like to be in Emily’s shoes. I was also tossed around as a child. I even went from house to house and it can play tricks on you. My mother also gave me away as a child and I can say I think say so far I turned out well. Sometimes you have to put your fear of what the future may for you aside and grow up. Emily was forced to do everything on her own growing up. I know it can be hard but she strived from the bottom. The mother states “You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key?”(Olsen). Her mother didn’t even know what to say to her because she barley even knows her. The mother always seemed to try to take the easy way out. The mother feels as long as she does right by her other kids that it will make up for the one she abandoned. The moral of the story was learn through her mother’s life. In
Emily experienced many hardships in her early childhood. Emily spent a good portion of her day and even years in the presence of people who were not her mother. These people were harsh and did not appreciate Emily as her mother did (McMichael 1847). There were even times when Emily would come up with stories so that she would not have to go to nursery school where the children and students were mean (McMichael 1847). Some of these years were spent away from her mother. The clinic, that was advised for little Emily to attend, was one of these places spend away from home. The clinic where “‘They don’t like you to love anybody here’” (McMichael 1849). All of the places Emily was placed in so that her mother could make it, the sitters
This reality sends panic and fear through her because now she has nowhere to turn and no one to tell her what to do, no one to command her life. Not only is she stricken with the loss of her father but now she is cut off to the outside world, because her only link has passed on. Emily immediately goes into a state of denial; to her, her father could not be dead, he was all that she had and she would not let him go.
Everyone such as the people in the community, doctors, and so on were calling to tell her to let them lay her father to rest. "When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.' This shows that Miss Emily will be able to control
The day after her father's death, the women of the town went to give their condolences to Miss. Emily. To their surprise, Miss. Emily was "dressed as usual" and had "no trace of grief on her face (Perrine's 285)." Emily told the women that her father was not dead. Finally after three days of trying to hold on to her father, "she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (Perrine's 285)." The town's people tired to justify Miss. Emily's actions, by saying that she had nothing left, and was clinging to the one thing that had robbed her for so long they convinced themselves that she was not crazy.
The mother was an invisible parent for Emily. Her reason for not being there for Emily was because she was a “young and distracted mother” (Olsen 262). The real reason she was inattentive was because she was inexperienced. She lacks the understanding of how essential it is to be there physically for Emily. Emily needed her mother for
The daughter knows very well that she will never be like the perfect children broadcasted on television or even the verizon of a daughter that her mother wants which causes the destructive relationship between them. The daughter eventually disregards what the mother wants and will only follow her own mind. The assertive parenting led to her daughter not wanting to put in any effort and distance between the two instead of helping her find her
This was the only way she felt she could do both. Harder still was that Emily would cry and beg her mother not to that nursery school. As these separations press on Emily and her mother, the mother feels guilt and her child is torn by a separation made even worse as she's placed in several undesirable locations.
Emily’s upbringing is plagued with difficulties. She is the first-born of a young mother and the eldest of five brothers and sisters. As a baby, she is
Faulkner states that Miss Emily would tell the other people that “her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly,'' (Faulkner 804). This part of the story foreshadows another incident where Emily again refuses to let go of the deceased. Instead of Emily not being able to let go of her father, this time she couldn't let go of her close friend, Homer. The hint of Emily not being able to let go of her father in the beginning serves as an indication for the reader that Miss Emily is very isolated and will do anything to prevent that. Emily’s suspicious actions causes the reader to anticipate certain happenings and wonder what will happen next.
Emily is very vulnerable mostly because of her appearance. "She tormented herself enough about not looking like the others, there was enough of the unsureness, the having to be conscious of works before you speak, the constant caring-what are they thinking of me? Without having it all magnified by the merciless physical drivers" (Olson 603). Emily is a skinny, fragile, and sick child, and in the outer world, other kids without values would point her out. Emily is always insecure about what she says, or does in front of others. The insecurity of not being able to be her own person is always on her mind.
The plot of the story has the mother, the main character in the story explain the hardships she and her daughter endured while she worked including: sitters, daycares, illnesses, and travelling. She never doubted the love she had for her daughter but knew her experiences caused Emily to battle with depression. She explained her love for her daughter so passionately including how she despised leaving her with strangers for her to work. She expressed in detail how much her daughter missed her mother as well while she was away. It was an enormous transition for both of them. She continued to explain the difficulty of being without her daughter and having to send her daughter to stay with her abandoning husband’s family. How difficult to consistently relocate your baby to different places and strangers in order to assure she is safe and in the best care because you are working too much to
Emily is angry and resentful. She is angry at her mother and blames her for her life and the way she has turned out. Her mother has always put her down and constantly tell her that she was
Suffering from tuberculosis, Emily was sent away from her mother again to a convalescent home, where she could be better cared for. While Emily is at the recovery center, she is cut off from almost all communication especially relationship with her own mother. Even the letters the narrator writes to her are read to her once and then thrown away. Parents are allowed to visit only every other Sunday, when the children line up on the balconies of their cottages and conduct shouted conversations with the parents who stand below. Emily’s balcony in particular represents the emotional distance between the narrator and her daughter.
Finally, the author highlights the sufferance that fetters the mother's consciousness. Emily’s mother becomes aware that she was too preoccupied with providing for her daughter and she forgot to provide her with what matter the most, her presence. She is mindful of the fact that that she continuously removed Emily from her life. Moreover, she put a mark on Emily’s behavior and personality. She regrets her conduct, but she is also aware that it is too late to change anything. The mother states, “There were years she did not want me to touch her. She kept too much in herself, her life was such she had to
She was a single mother during Emily's initial years. Thus, instead of being able to spend time and play with her 8 month old daughter, the narrator had to go out to look for a job as well as Emily's missing father (199). She defied the image of a typical housewife. Instead of staying home to cook, clean, and take care of her children, the narrator had to go out and get a job.