I Stand Here Ironing And The Rich Brother Essay

When it comes to claiming responsibility for personal success there are several different kinds of people. Some who take all the credit and some who give it to the others that help them get there. In “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “The Rich Brother” by Tobias Wolff there is a constant theme of the meaning of success, who to thank for it and the importance of family. In “I Stand Here Ironing’, Olsen talks about a girl who lived a rough childhood but in the end still made something of herself. Told from the point of view of her mother, it is seen how the daughter could resent her through how she was pushed from place to place but overall did not. In Wolff’s “The Rich Brother” there is a constant struggle of the differences in their
The fact that through everything that happens to them they put their families first. The more successful brother, Pete, has many traits that are just like the mother. They both put work before everything else eventually leaving them with the bad taste of distance between blood relations. Pete grew apart from his brother who he would do anything for. He felt like it was even his fault for the fact that his brother became religious, because the fact that all Pete saw was money and that’s what made him happy while his brother did not want that. The mother would also work her life away. She could have found better ways to work and so that she could spend more time with her daughter and she could have not neglected her daughter just because she was tired but chose not to. The daughter and Donald are alike as well. They both had to face many challenges in life while young. They both dealt with many illnesses and were somewhat outcasted by their families. But with this being said neither of them resented their loved ones. They may have been distant because of their family but in the end loved them very