Analysis Of Tillie Olsen's ' I Stand Here Ironing '

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

When Emily was ill, her mother believed that the best place to get care for her child was in a special home. This contradicted the real needs Emily had. Soon after the last child was born, Emily became very ill with red measles, and once again the mother had to send her away to a convalescent home in the country where she could be cared for until she was well enough to return home. The mother thought to herself, "She can have the kind of food and care you can't manage for her, and you'll be free to concentrate on the new baby" (602). For the first six weeks, Emily was not allowed any visitors. The child sat in this strange home for six weeks not knowing anyone at all until her mother could visit her every other Sunday. When her mother did visit, there was an invisible wall "not To Be Contaminated by Parental Germs or Physical Affection" (602). The wall represents the distance between Emily and her mother, which has always been and continues. Emily had told her mother one day "They don't like you to love anybody here" (602). She wanted to love and to be loved so badly. It didn't seem that there was anywhere she could go to

Emily comes from a family with high expectations of her a sort of “hereditary obligation” (30). Emily has been mentally manipulated by her as so indicated in the line of the story “we did not say she was crazy then we believed she had to do that we remember all the young men her father had driven away” (32). There is already proof of mental illness in the family “remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great aunt, had gone completely crazy last” (32).

There were times they played together but really Emily resented Susan. Susan was the person Emily wanted to be like with her “golden and curly-hair and chubby”. Emily always frets about her appearance; she was dark and thin and foreign-looking in a world where the prestige went to blondeness and curly hair and dimples. Emily was sick when they brought Susan home. Emily couldn’t be around her mother or Susan. Emily’s illness caused her to have nightmares causing her to cry out to her mother at night but she would never go to her. The mother remembers telling her she was okay just go back to sleep. When the mother had the chance to go set with Emily, she was asleep and unware her mother was there. Again Emily had to be sent away so she could get better but she didn’t get better however, she was still able to return home. The mother remembers trying to hold Emily, hug her, but she was stiff and didn’t want to be touched. At this time the mother realized she had missed out on so much of Emily’s early years and felt she was losing Emily for she kept to herself. There were more children in the home now, demanding the mother’s attention. Emily had to help be a mother, and housekeeper, and shopper. The mother was always getting ready for the next day, ironing everyone’s clothes to make them perfect. Emily didn’t have any friends, she had a hard time getting the boys attention; no matter how nice she was to them they always liked someone better.

Although the mother may have been trying to help Emily, the mother should have tried to take care of Emily better instead of sending her off as the only solution. One of the other effects of her mother’s unavoidable neglect is Emily’s failure to be on the same pace as her peers in class. She is at a state of illiteracy that is uncommon for her age at the time which may be a result from staying at home instead of going to class to take care of the household. In addition to the mother’s neglect, having a sister who was the ideal poster child may have caused self confidence problems as she grew older being the odd one out in the family. Emily’s mother should have made sure she was able to take care of Emily first before deciding to give birth to another child. What the mother thought would be the best option for Emily had a more clear negative effect on Emily after she grew older still not having any clear direction in her life.

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

Emily's father suppressed all of her inner desires. He kept her down to the point that she was not allowed to grow and change with the things around her. When “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated…only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps” (Rose 217). Even when he died, she was still unable to get accustom to the changes around her. The traditions that her and her father continued to participate in even when others stopped, were also a way that her father kept her under his thumb. The people of the town helped in

The treatment by Emily’s father affected her as an adult in many ways. I feel that her father actions caused her to isolate herself from society and not able to adapt to change. In the story, “A Rose for Emily”, Emily lived with her father and had little interactions with anyone else. Emily’s father was very controlling over her life by not allowing her to do things on her own, which resulted in Emily being reserved from society. Her father kept her shielded, and believed that no young man was good enough for his daughter. The narrator stated, “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner, 1931, 84). After his death

     Emotional support also plays an important role of Emily’s well being. The idea mother suppose to care, support, and value their children needs. Emily needed this nourishment. She needed her mother to smile at her in order for her to feel a connection with the person that she supposed to be able to depend on. Emily’s mother did not know how to communicate with Emily. The mother-daughter relationship has an element of coldness, it lacks warmth. “There were years she did not want me to touch her” (Olsen 262). Emily’s mother inability to interact with her, leaves Emily unloved and in return, she shall not express any love toward her mother. Emily’s mother feels her “wisdom came too late” (Olsen 262). With this thought in mind, Emily’s mother shall never show communication or love to Emily, therefore the relationship shall continue to be doomed.

The mother had to work very long hours in this story and her daughter, Emily, has suffered due to that. At one point, she had to send Emily to go live with her father because she could not afford to raise her daughter anymore. It is obvious that this would not be an easy decision. Even when the mother can afford to take Emily back, she must send Emily to daycare everyday. As Emily grows older the mother believes that she has become damaged and overly quiet because of the way that she was raised and not having a loving enough mother.

When she finally saved up enough money to bring Emily back, her daughter got sick with the chicken pox and had to stay away longer. When she finally went back to her mother, she hardly recognized Emily anymore. The time spent away from each other left a hole in their bond, which wouldn’t have resulted if the government was more helpful. Bad luck followed Emily throughout her childhood and gave her red measles and, eventually, tuberculosis which caused the narrator to send her daughter to a convalescent home because the government would not help her afford the care Emily needed. The home only allowed visitation twice a month and screened the letters going out, so the narrator’s interaction with her child was limited and overall hurtful for Emily’s growth. The home did little to help Emily, besides allow her to gain a few pounds, it instead made her fear physical interactions and strengthen her habitat of not eating. The narrator tried to help Emily, but it was a difficult task with the other children and work to do around the house.

The mother was nineteen when she had this baby and she was either employed or looking for work. The old man says to the mother that: "You should smile at Emily more when you look at her." What was in my face when 1looked at her? I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (293). The mother could hardly smile to her daughter because she worried how to afford Emily’s basic needs. The struggles of her life to earn the essential requirements for her daughter made her not to smile at her daughter and this leads us to believe that she is not happy being a mother of this daughter. Emily's mother left the infant with neighbors while she looked for work, and eventually had to leave her longer term with the father's family so she could save money. Emily contracted chicken pox, which replaced her beauty with pock-marks. Furthermore, she sent the girl to a nursery school, even though Emily passionately begged not to go. However, the mother had no choice because she had to work. The mother loves her daughter, but the problem is money to raise her daughter up and knowing the father left them as they were poor..

Zoe Broussard Mr. Lutz AP English 12 21 September 2014 “I Stand Here Ironing” Analysis In “I Stand Here Ironing” written by Tillie Olsen, a mother reflects on her daughter’s early life and breeding, after being informed on another person’s concern for her daughter. The author uses symbolism, tone, and flashbacks to convey her attitudes toward her daughter in addition to revealing the mother’s characteristics. Olsen uses the symbolism of an iron to display her contemplations.

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.

Additionally, Emily’s mother reflects on Emily’s young age when the neglect begin, she was loved but since times were difficult, her mother being young, single, poor, and having to work; Emily was left at a young age with a neighbor that her mother knew did not love her that she did. Furthermore, Emily’s mother had another child, at the time, Emily was ill and was not able to be in contact with her mother or sister. The scars that had already formed, deepened from more distance from her mother. Then Emily was taken and sent away to an orphanage-type place where Emily was not able to receive love and support from her family. All of the events that Emily’s mother explained would have made a child feel unloved and unimportant. However, the majority of the event’s the mother explains were out of her mother and Emily’s control. The tone and style of the story provides the act that I do not feel completely sure if Emily’s mother is telling of the regret of Emily’s early life, as it unfolded, or the regret that Emily’s mother felt for not doing more to try to find a way to help Emily and support her. As stated in an article, “Tillie Olsen: A Study of the Short Fiction,” this short story is not as simple as a mother ironing, talking about one of her children (Frye, 1995).