I Stand Here Ironing Analysis

Working has many positive and negative effects on a persons life. Working can change and influence a persons personality in many ways. Working is a necessity in life and depending on the job, can determine how that person acts in their daily lives. A paragraph from Tillie Olsen’s, “I Stand Here Ironing,” reads this, “After a while I found a job hashing at night so I could be with her days, and it was better. But it came to where I had to bring her to his family and leave her. It took a long time to raise the money for her fare back.” The narrator was explaining that she could not afford her child. This is a hard moment for any adult to face. After her husband left, she had to work nights to raise her child on her own. She could not handle it and had to give the child to her husband. Then she saved money until she could afford her. This character is devastated because she missed part of her child’s life and the baby is grown into a two year old student. She missed having a little baby. This shaped how the narrator acted for the rest of her life. Many people are in the same predicament.
Work can control people because money is necessary to survive in today’s society. Work is now looked at as a necessity and a persons whole childhood is used to find a job they can work at to earn an income. Work does not just shape lives, it is part of life. Another way jobs influence a persons life is explained by quote from Claudia O’Keefe’s, “The Traveling Bra Salesman’s Lesson,” where she wrote, “Most of the old independent retailers no longer exist.
A handful of chains have replaced them, with buying decisions made at the corporate level. Jobs which comfortably supported a family have been eliminated in favor of new ones paying so little employees are encouraged to apply for food stamps.” Big corporations take business from local businesses by offering cheaper services. These cheaper services are used to run out local businesses. Claudia’s quote is extremely true when she talks about jobs paying less and encouraging workers to apply for food stamps. Small businesses are being wiped out and causing workers to change their lifestyle to needing food stamps. Jobs can really affect every part of a person’s
life. The last way jobs influence or change people’s lives is explained in Claudia O’Keefe’s article, “A New Dream,” when she wrote these inspirational sentences, “The problem is that society has hit an emotional road block. My country is one tremendously divided, with pro-business and pro-worker stubbornly pitted against each other. We’re anxious. We’re angry. Neither side wants to give and nothing can be solved until we acknowledge one crucial fact. The past is dust….Working as willing participants of change, we will devise ways to keep businesses from discarding employees like so much surplus machinery, while making certain there is profit for all.” These sentences describe what work does to people. Everyone wants to be paid for their work, workers want more money for work while employers want more work for less wages. This conflict is being solved by replacing workers with robots causing workers to be jobless. Both parties are stubborn and greedy due to working that workers lose out on the american dream and are stuck on food stamps. This can emotionally drain an employee. Everyone needs to work, but employers and employees need to work together and stop letting their greediness stop them from working. Being fired can shape a person into a negative person but work can also change other people for the better. Work has many influences on a person’s life and personality.