ipl-logo

I Stand Here Ironing Essay

580 Words3 Pages

Tillie Olsen’s I Stand Here Ironing is a compelling story that tackles a complex relationship between a mother and daughter. Through Olsen’s vivid imagery and elaborate symbolism, we explore the themes of motherhood, the pressures of a patriarchal society, and economic stability that have shaped the mother’s experience as a parent and the oppression of women in society. The narrator’s reflections on motherhood contribute to self-growth and empowerment through resistance to societal norms and self-awareness.
Despite tackling these societal pressures, the narrator self-reflects on her experience and life as a mother. Her internal monologue gives an insight into her struggles as a single mother during the depression. Olsen uses imagery within …show more content…

I put down the iron. What in me demanded that goodness in her? And what was the cost, the cost of her such goodness?” This astonishment she feels reflects upon the hardship of motherhood and how her parenting was not good enough. The self-doubt about her parenting illustrates the pressures of expectations set by a patriarchal society. Olsen also displays the intense emotional sacrifice mothers must endure due to the effects of social inequality. The narrator reflects on Emily’s unwillingness to conform to social expectations of femininity, “she was a child who did not smile easy or often.” Her frustration indicates the pressure that mothers face to conform their daughters to the societal norms of femininity, which is often the requirement of mothers in a patriarchal society.
The mother was a working single mother who had struggled to provide for her family throughout her motherhood. She reflects upon this throughout the story, indicating how poverty had limited her opportunities leading to guilt and self-doubt. Olsen utilizes the symbolism of the iron and her motherhood, “I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron.” As she moves back and forth with the iron, she is moving back and

Show More
Related

  • Welfare In The Glass Castle By Jeanette Walls

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    The text states that, “I thought Lori was amazing, and I had no doubt she would become a successful artist…”(223) Jeanette looks up to her sister and becomes more motivated to become successful because her sister has a great amount of dedication. The last example is, “I'd been speaking hypothetically about moving to New York a year early. But as I walked, I realized that if I wanted to, I could get up and go. I could really do it. Maybe not right now, not this minute—it was the middle of the school year—but I could wait until I finished eleventh grade.

    Read More

  • What Are Some Examples Of Womanhood In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1151 Words  | 5 Pages

    She is strong, curious, independent and self-confident. Many trials throughout the book test her strength and independence but she overcomes. She recognizes as she gets older and gains more experience that there is a double standard for men and women. “The slave system defined black people as chattel. Since women no less than men were viewed as profitable labor units, they might as well have been genderless as far as slave holders were concerned” (Davis 5)

    Read More

  • Mary Wilkins Freeman's The Revolt Of Mother

    589 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Revolt of Mother” by Mary Wilkins Freeman, Sarah Penn, also known as Mother, is the conventional woman of the nineteenth century. She was raised to always be submissive to men. This was practically a rule in this era. Women were treated and recognized as a minor value compared to men. However, Mother does not want to continue to be looked at as a feeble woman with little to almost no value.

    Read More

  • The Struggle In Mary Freeman's The Revolt Of Mother

    676 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 19th century, women were overshadowed by the men of their household, therefore they had no sense of independence nor dominance. In Mary Freeman’s short story, “The Revolt of Mother,” the author presents Sarah Penn, a woman who takes a stand against her husband. In the beginning, the reader learns that Sarah is a hardworking mother and wife. She maintains the household work and meets her children needs. She is suddenly confused of her husband’s actions concerning their future.

    Read More

  • The Short Story 'New York Day Women'

    260 Words  | 2 Pages

    Likewise, the narrator is curious about what her mother is doing because

    Read More

  • Feminism In The Bean Trees

    853 Words  | 4 Pages

    They argue that a major theme is that “[a]lthough it is a job that can never be done perfectly, motherhood is depicted as an empowering role” (Parini 200). Throughout the novel, we see Taylor and Lou Ann adjusting and learning how to parent a child by themselves. It is a struggle for them; however, they learn quickly and conquer their motherhood. While it is valid that some readers might think motherhood is a hard and empowering role, still my theme of men-less women being powerful remains central because the power of women has a lot to do with raising their children. For example, Taylor is talking to her mama via payphone and tells her some exciting news.

    Read More

  • The Universal Truth About Parent And Child Relationships In First Day By Edward P. Jones

    407 Words  | 2 Pages

    (3). Until now, the child had only seen her mother as perfect, but her mother’s new shortcomings have made her realize that she is not. Her mother is almost diseased with her flaws, and this development puts the child in a difficult position as she now sees what the rest of the world does. Finally, the girl develops a perspective of her own as she grows up. Retelling the story, she recalls that it took place “long before [she] learned to be ashamed of [her] mother” (1).

    Read More

  • How Is Maggie Presented In A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

    1166 Words  | 5 Pages

    Through the lens of this challenging dynamic, these texts highlight the struggle that women often go through in unhealthy relationships. Both individuals are forced to confront the complexities and hardships that arise from these diverging perspectives. The comparison between Maggie and Alsana is that both of their identities as wives, and mothers are clouded by the stereotypical gender roles they are trying to fit into to please their spouses or to please the people surrounding them so they can gain a sense of belonging. Ultimately, such depictions in literature allow readers to gain a better understanding of the

    Read More

  • The Boat Alistair Macleod Summary

    692 Words  | 3 Pages

    When her only son was going to school , she said; “ I never though a son of mine would choose useless books over the parents that have you life”(Macleod 18). It shows how the mother was putting so much pressure and guilt

    Read More

  • How Is Kitty Presented In The Bartagonist?

    326 Words  | 2 Pages

    In society at this time, women had no say of their own but instead accepted and did as they were told by the male of the house. Because of this identity, she is pressured to present herself and her home as lovely. However while struggling with meeting gender expectations; both characters suffer from the effects of trauma which are perceived very differently by the audience of the novel.

    Read More

  • Bucket Of Blood Katherine Waugh Analysis

    949 Words  | 4 Pages

    This theme is developed through the mother yet deciding to stand out and do life her own way. As a woman, the mother in this story is expected to act like everyone else. Women in

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In Toni Morrison's In Beloved

    1238 Words  | 5 Pages

    For, in relinquishing, a mother feels strong and liberal; and in guild she finds the motivation to right wrong. Women throughout time have been compelled to cope with the remonstrances of motherhood along with society’s anticipations

    Read More

  • How Does Truman Capote Show The Middle Class

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    Often the mother and daughter don’t participate in as many physical activities as the males and while the mother doesn't follow all norms due to her failing health she tries her best to be a proper wife and lady at social gatherings. In the mother's absence due to illness Nancy “principally … prepared the family meals” (Capote 9) due to her being the only capable female. These things show the Clutters fitting into the nearly ideal image of a middle-class family in the

    Read More

  • Racism In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

    1055 Words  | 5 Pages

    Faulkner describes black people by a derogatory term “negro” to emphasize the main issue of the southern mentality. However, author pays the equal attention to gender inequality. Starting from the very beginning Faulkner describes Emily’s unquestionable obedience towards the constraints that her father put on her life. Emily is the symbol of old American south, yet her character has a lot in common with women of younger generation “Only a man of Colonel Satoris’s generation could have invented it and only a women could have believed it” (Faulkner), it is not women’s competence to think by themselves; the statement that Faulkner wants make in this part is that men are superior gender.

    Read More

  • Metaphors In A Doll House

    1567 Words  | 7 Pages

    In 1880s, women in America were trapped by their family because of the culture that they were living in. They loved their family and husband, but meanwhile, they had hard time suffering in same patterns that women in United States always had. With their limited rights, women hoped liberation from their family because they were entirely complaisant to their husband. Therefore, women were in conflicting directions by two compelling forces, their responsibility and pressure. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses metaphors of a doll’s house and irony conversation between Nora and Torvald to emphasize reality versus appearance in order to convey that the Victorian Era women were discriminated because of gender and forced to make irrational decision by inequity society.

    Read More

More about I Stand Here Ironing Essay

Open Document