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Emily's Struggle In I Stan Within The Short Story

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Between the years 1929 and 1940, an estimated 1.5 million married women were abandoned by their husbands as a result of the conditions faced during the Great Depression (Mintz and McNeil). The Great Depression was a period of widespread suffering and intense economic hardship that caused soaring rates of unemployment and homelessness, and as a result, many men saw themselves as powerless against society’s decline. Realizing their inability to provide for their families, they left their wives, sons, and daughters to fend for themselves, despite the collapse’s equally paralyzing effect on women and children. Mothers chased after any job available, no matter the difficulty, in order for their families to simply survive. Emily’s mother, the narrator in “I …show more content…

A teacher from Emily’s school is the catalyst, appealing to Emily’s mother: “‘I’m sure you can help me understand her. She’s a youngster [...] whom I’m deeply interested in helping’” (Olsen 1). Emily’s mother initially resists, claiming that, even though she is Emily’s mother, she does not have the key to unlock the secrets of her daughter (Olsen 1). However, her mind transports her back in time to contemplate the facets of Emily’s childhood from the moment she proclaims in the first line, “‘I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth’” (Olsen 1). Unable to resist the rumination, Emily’s mother recounts the past nineteen years, during which several symbols embody the environment’s repercussions. This symbolism and related plot devices elucidate the ability of economic and societal circumstances to influence both mother and daughter within Tillie Olsen’s short story “I Stand Here Ironing,” ultimately supporting the environment’s prominence within the nature versus nurture dilemma [A startling fact or bit of

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