Comedy: Personality Traits or Effects of a Less than Ideal Childhood In Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing”, a mother recalls the life of her first born daughter. She retells the hardships she and her daughter went through to survive it. The main focus, however, are the hardships of the daughter, Emily. These hardships, lack of tender love, attention and over abundant strife in Emily’s life, lead to her being unnoticed and somewhat forgotten. In Emily’s late teenage years, comedy became a way
The mother in Tillie Olsen’s story, “I Stand Here Ironing” gives insight into the upbringing of her first child. We see she is guilty of neglect towards Emily and is distressed due to poor decisions that she had made rearing her daughter. The mother reflects on the past and thinks that her actions and “lack of” might have affected Emily. She is so engulfed in “what ifs” and “how could I’s” that she is practically beating herself mentally. Poor Emily received little attention when attention was needed
not have the support of family. “I Stand Here Ironing” written by Tillie Olsen is a short story that reflects on the struggles of a single mother who looks back on the past and tries to assess the effect her decisions and circumstances had on her young daughter, Emily. It is part of the “awarding-winning collection, Tell Me a Riddle, which was first published in 1961 when Olsen was in her late forties”. The story “is considered the most autobiographical” of Olsen’s literary works (Piedmont-Marton)
culturally. Since there are multiple theories on feminism, Donald Hall’s definition of cultural feminism, from his “Feminist Analysis” of Literary and Cultural Theory, will be used to explore the cultural aspects of the texts from Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper,” Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, and Tillie Olsen’s short story “Tell Me A Riddle.” The ideology of feminism is that women are unable to express themselves due to being oppressed
who do not have the support of family. “I Stand Here Ironing” written by Tillie Olsen is a short story that reflects on the struggles of a single mother who looks back on the past and tries to assess the effect her decisions and circumstances had on her young daughter, Emily. “This story is part of the awarding-winning collection, Tell Me A Riddle, which was first published in 1961” (Wolfe). “This story is considered the most autobiographical of Olsen’s literary works (Piedmont-Marton). The title
several more ways. This essay will highlight and analyze the cultural aspects of feminism from the texts of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Donald Hall’s “Feminist Analysis” from Literary and Cultural Theory, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, and Tillie Olsen’s short story “Tell Me A Riddle.” Cultural feminism, the ideology of the roles and stereotypical characteristics of women. Therefore, women are unable to express themselves