I Stand Here Ironing By Tillie Olsen

674 Words2 Pages

The short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is an example of a mother daughter struggle. From what I took from the story, the young mom herself had an extremely rough life. She had her daughter Emily at a young age and it did not end up picture perfect like she might have thought it would. Her mother had to work to support them, so she always sent Emily off to be cared by others. Sometimes she was sent far away and for a long period of time. This caused distance between them. This impacted Emily in a huge way. To the point where Emily does not like physical affection such as hugs from her mother. Her mother loves her dearly, but was not able to provide her with a great life a child should have lived. Sadly, there was not enough …show more content…

I’m sure you can help me understand her. She’s a youngest who needs help and whom I’m deeply interested in helping.” (Pg. 223) They saw potential in the young girl. Her mother stood there at the ironing board as she ironed contemplating her daughter and the troubles they have. The monotonous motion of ironing gave her time to think about her life. She found it calming. The mother had the time to think about coming to terms with and overcoming the past …show more content…

Fear and disbelief was on her face. This showed Emily how to act. Emotionless. Her mother loved her but had so much holding her back from enjoying Emily when she was little. This is why Emily didn’t like to be shown any affection later in life.
The cry for help was not heard. Emily came up with so many excuses to spend some quality time with her mother and they were not acknowledged. “Can’t you go some other time, Mommy, like tomorrow?”(Pg.225) Emily’s mother was young herself and had a rough raising did not know the signs of asking for help. These behaviors are shown to you; you just do not have them suddenly.
During Emily’s middle school years she felt as if she was not good enough for herself or boys. She later told her mother that she was taken money to buy a boy candy. “Licorice was his favorite and I bought him some every day, but he still liked Jennifer better’n me. Why, Mommy?” During this time Emily was looking for reassurance she was good enough and not

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