Of Compassionate Mother In Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing

Many people describe the role as a mother and a wife as something that is to be welcomed, a natural stage for women. However for the narrator, it changed from something seemingly beautiful to “old foul, bad...” Motherhood to her is then what creative women were to other people during the 19th century. Creativity was natural for the narrator, unlike motherhood; it was part of her being. Motherhood however, was a prison of domestic

“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is a depiction of a mother-daughter relationship that lacks involvement and warmth. The whole story composed of the mother’s memory of her relationship with her daughter, Emily. The memory was a painful one comprised mostly of the way the mother was much less able to care for Emily. The forsaken of Emily demonstrates the importance of physical and emotional support.

The line between being an acceptable and unacceptable parent is often blurry and is seen on different perspectives when it comes to class, culture, and generation differences. Based on the two stories of Amy Tan’s, “Two Kinds” and Tillie Olsen’s, “I Stand here Ironing” we see these two perspectives that derive from different maternal upbringings of the children in the stories. What is found between them is the conflict of being too little or heavily involved in a child’s life has had more negative outcomes during their childhood than positive.

Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie

The maternal instinct and family affection is woman's most holy attribute, but if she enters industrial life, that is not enough. She must supplement her family conscience by a social and an industrial conscience. She must widen her family affection to embrace the children of the community. She is wrecking havoc in the sewing-trades, because with the meager equipment sufficient for family life she has entered industrial life (Addams 57).

I Stand Here Ironing lies in its fusion of motherhood as both metaphor and experience: it shows us motherhood bared, stripped of romantic distortion, and reins fused with the power of genuine metaphorical insight into the problems of selfhood in the modern world. ironing is a metaphor for "the ups and downs, back and forth of pressing pressures to make ends meet and a determination to pass through life's horrors and difficulties by keeping the mind intact and focusing on the beauty and blessings that [lie amidst] the dark times"? So the ironing is like a drug, to keep the mother calm and sedated. The story seems at first to be a simple meditation of a mother reconstructing her daughter's past in an attempt to

In the short story "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen the conflict between a mother whose giving is limited by hardships is directly related to her daughter's wrinkled adjustment. Ironing, she reflects upon when she was raising her first-born daughter, Emily. The mother contemplates the consequences of her actions. The mother's life had been interrupted by childbirth, desertion, poverty, numerous jobs, childcare, remarriage, frequent relocations, and five children. Her struggling economic situation gave way to little or no opportunity to properly care for and nurture her first-born child. In spite of the attention and love Emily craved and never received, she still survived, and even made strengths, and talents, out of the

Edelman opens her essay by recalling the countless hours early in her marriage in which her husband spent working (50). With his hours increasing, she unwillingly cut back on her own work hours to care for their child. Edelman then spends time sharing her disillusionment with the newfound reality of her

“I Stand Here Ironing” is written by Tillie Olsen from her collection Tell Me A Riddle. The short story writes an unromanticized portrayal of motherhood and the relationship with her first child and the standards society has put on them. Olson's story relates to the hardships of lower class life and struggle. I chose the Marxist critical approach for “I stand here ironing.” Which helps me anyalise

“I Stand Here Ironing” is full of feministic views of how life was during era when women were finally gaining rights to start having their own voice. It was a limited voice, but it was still a voice. Tillie Olsen used her stories to express her feeling towards sex, class, age, and other things that felt like they needed to be addressed. Tillie said in an interview “I write because I'm a human being and human beings have a need to express themselves.” (The Progressive. 2014.) Having read the “I Stand Here Ironing” she addressed sex and specific class within those lines. She covered the demands within her life at the time in this specific story. She too was a single mother that worked and struggled to find the balance between being a single working

The world has seen, for years that women are forced into roles of a domestic lifestyle, forced to perform acts of maternity and be responsible for the fate and lives of others. While some women have escaped these roles due to socioeconomic class or sheer power of will, many women in history have been forced to conform to domestic roles. Whatever the situation, being forced to take on roles that one doesn't not want to can be extremely harmful. Although society creates an immense pressure to conform to these roles, it is peculiar that more women haven't broken free of the pressure. One must wonder what keeps women in these roles and why so few women separate themselves from society's standards? In his novel *The Hours*, Michael Cunningham expresses the weight domesticity has on Mrs. Woolf, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Dalloway through his usage of plot and the theme of time. He expands on the women's experiences through the theme of moments that "are enough", claiming these moments throughout the novel keep them content within the constraints of domesticity. Cunningham thus forms a comment on the role of woman in society and the pressures both women of history and modern women feel.

The short story “I Stand Here Ironing” (1961) by Tillie Olsen is a touching narration of a mother trying to understand and at the same time justifying her daughter’s conduct. Frye interprets the story as a “meditation of a mother reconstructing her daughter’s past in an attempt to express present behavior” (Frye 287). An unnamed person has brought attention and concern to her mother expressing, “‘She’s a youngster who needs help and whom I’m deeply interested in helping’” (Olsen 290). Emily is a nineteen-year-old complex girl who is atypical, both physically and in personality.

Being a single woman with a family to support in the 1930’s was not an easy job. Especially when society had so many chips stacked against them. Tillie Olsen’s “I stand Here Ironing” is a short story that addresses feminine social disorders and inequalities as well as economic disadvantages that people of lower circumstances have to overcome to survive. In the short story it is basically an autobiography of Tillie Olsen’s life told by the narrator (Emily’s mother). Throughout the story the narrator is reflecting the way she brought up her daughter during a depression and feminist era. She feels very regretful reflecting 19 years late because of the decisions she was forced to make because of the absence of Emily’s father. This story can be seen in a feminist perspective as well as a Marxist perspective; even though they are very different from one another both perspectives help interpret Tillie Olsen’s short story. The Marxist perspective helps illuminate Tillie Olsen’s “I stand Here Ironing” when the narrator explains how the capital system negatively affected Emily and her Family. In a feminist perspective the narrator describes her different encounters with men that abandoned her; causing her to have to take on a male dominated role. Because of the societal characteristic she had to take on it caused her to turn away from her daughter in order to survive.

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

“I Stand Here Ironing” is a remarkable short story written by Tillie Olsen. Olsen was known for her short stories regarding working-class Americans. “I Stand Here Ironing” is just that, set in The Great Depression Era, here the narrator of the story is a young mother giving a glimpse into her life during that time, choices she made as a mother, and being a single parent. While in a defense mode during the story as she spoke to someone that had great concerns for her daughter, Emily, she portrayed the struggles and guilt she faced raising Emily but knowing deep inside that Emily was fine and this person needed to “let her be”.