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I stand here ironing Tillie Olson |
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Tillie Olsen captures the overwhelming love a mother has for her child in I Stand Here Ironing. The story is an example of the struggle of unconditional love and guilt, which go hand-in-hand in motherhood. The narrator in this story is a middle aged mother who has an inner dialogue rehashing the events of her daughter's life while ironing. The dialogue is a response to an unnamed person, perhaps a teacher who requests "I wish you would manage the time to come in a talk with me about your daughter. I'm sure you can help me understand her. She's a youngster who needs help and whom I'm deeply interested in helping" (687). At first, the mother seems upset by the implication that she may be able to help someone understand her daughter, perhaps she takes offense to the person saying her daughter, Emily, needs help. She then lets herself slip into the memories of the past as she recalls Emily as a baby: I nursed her. They feel that's important nowadays. I nursed all the children, but with her, with all the fierce rigidity of first motherhood, I did it like the books then said. Though her cries battered me to trembling and my breasts ached with swollenness, I waited till the clock decreed. Why do I put that first? I do |
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there were years she had care that she hated. By the words "my wisdom came too late", the narrator is lamenting the 'mistakes' that she made with her first child. She makes this statement because she now, in her later years feels guilt about the way she began her 'career' as a mother. "She had to help be a mother, and housekeeper, and shopper" (692). The mother is struggling with wanting her daughter to live to her highest potential, but must make peace with the fact that her daughter must now make choices as she did when she was young and live with the outcome be it positive or negative. It must also be noted the symbolism between the mother ironing wrinkles out of clothes while she mentally irons out the 'wrinkles' of her insecurities as a mother. She continues to chronicle the life stages of Emily's life, quietly berating herself for the school that she sent her to and the responsibilities that were laid on Emily's shoulders, perhaps to soon. She has much to her and probably little will come of it. Then: Was this Emily? The control, the command, the convulsing and deadly clowning, the spell, then the roaring, stamping audience, unwilling to let this rare and precious laughter out of their lives. Why do you want me to come in at all? Why were you concerned? She will find her way" (692). Her father left me before she was a year old. The overwhelming theme of this story is that a mother's love is fierce, but with the joy of unconditional love comes the burden of guilt. not know if it even matters, or if it explains anything. Some topics in this essay:
Stand Ironing,
Shirley Temple,
Tillie Olsen,
wisdom late,
help understand,
unconditional love,
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Approximate Word count = 905
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced) |
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i stand here ironing The short story ampquotI Stand Here Ironingampquot by Tillie Olson, can be interpreted in a variety of different ways, depending upon how the story is analyzed, and which ... |
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