Analysis of “I Stand Here Ironing”
...past and present have had to wear many hats, as they say; they must be all things to all people. After some time t he mother remarried. The couple would go out at night and leave Emily alone. It is at this time when one gets the feeling that Emily had some kind of trauma in her life. Nothing that one can put their finger on, but she shows the signs of classic abuse symptoms. “She stayed skeleton thin, not wanting to eat, and night after night she had nightmares.” (602, paragraph 6). At the time Emily’s mother had just had a baby with her new husband. Perhaps she did not pay proper attention to Emily’s needs and looking back feels guilt for not recognizing the needs of her first child. In the story Emily makes a statement, “Whistler painted his mother in a rocker. I’d have to paint mine standing over an ironing board.” (604, paragraph 9)—the ironing board seems to be some kind of barrier that the mother hides behind. To keep everything that went on in her life at a distance. So she is out of harms way, but at the same time she feels guilty for not being a better mother, more involved, better equipped to handle life. She did the best she knew how to do at the time, and when she knew better she did better. Unfortunately for Emily, her siblings received the improved mothering skills she acquired. Emily deals with the troubles in her life with her sense of humor. Like it is either a situation to cry about or laugh. In humor she finds success and belonging, something she has never really felt before. Maybe her mother feels if she is successful with her comedic talents she will loose her again like she lost her to the clinic all those years ago. That could be why the message she received is so upsetting, it could be to point out where she went wrong as a mother or maybe it could be to help her daughters talent, and she would loose her all over again. The mother relives the past as she once again stands at the old familiar ironing board, trying to figure out why this person has taken an interest in her daughter. What could she possibly want that she feels she needs a meeting? The old familiar ironing board once again serves as the comfortable barrier where she can stand at a safe distance and relive the past. She is really not that different than any other mother. As a mother you always seem to second guess yourself or wonder if you have made the right decisions regarding your child’s life. The first person omniscient point of view is the best way to tell this story, if the mother was speaking to someone else, she may have sugar-coated things or not told the whole story. We might not have been able to feel the depth of her guilt and self-doubt. One thing that always seems to stand true; it is never easy to be a single mother. When a woman has a strong support system to rely on things are a bit easier, but they are truly never easy. The short story titled, “I Stand Here Ironing”, by Tillie Olsen, is told from the first person omniscient point of view, the main character, a mother is having a monologue with herself regarding her daughter Emily. She has received a message from someone concerning Emily, but she is rather vague about whom she receives the message from or how it has come to her attention. As she reminisces about the past she seems almost detached, as if she is telling a story about some other mother and daughter. The message has upset her and she seems full of self-doubt and guilt over choices that as a single mother she was forced to make in Emily’s up bringing. She stands ironing, dragging the iron back and forth over the wrinkled clothes, as if somehow magically it will straighten out all of the wrinkles in her life. She seems afraid to make decisions on her own. Her marriage has failed, “Emily’s father, who could no longer endure (he wrote in his good-bye note) “share want with us.” (601, paragraph 3). The one person, her husband, who should be sharing in the decision-making, has turned his back on her. It is as if the one person she thought she could count on left her and her child alone and now she is hesitant to depend on anyone again. Yet she does, because she is always doing as others think best. She has no confidence in herself as a mother. There is no mention of family or family ties. As if the mother is on her own without guidance from her mother or a female mentor to show her the way of motherhood. “I nursed her. They feel that’s important nowadays.” (601, paragraph 1). She never explains who “they”. We do not know if it is someone she talks to on an impersonal level or in something that she has read on parenting because she has no other means of information. “She was two. Old enough for nursery school they said, and I did not know then what I know now—the fatigue of the long day, and the lacerations of group life in the kinds of nurseries that are only parking places for children.” (601, paragraph 7) Again she gives the control over to whoever “they” are and does what “they” say. When Emily did not get better from a bout with the measles the people at the clinic told the mother to send Emily away where she could be better taken care of. She did as she was told. It took her eight months to get Emily back again. Being a young single mother in a time when money and work were hard to come by, she did not much choice in the decisions to be made. She had to make a living, keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. She only had herself to depend on; she had nobody to share life’s burdens with. She is like many of the women today who have children and have deadbeat fathers. Being the sole providers for the family, the sole decision makers and still be loving mothers. Women past and present ...