A good example of Modernism is a short story called "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen. This story not only portrays gender roles but also family roles. Here the narrator is a mother giving the reader a glimpse into her life‚ choices she made as a mother‚ and being a single parent. Through her defense of her situation‚ she exposes to the reader the underlying insecurities that riddle her mind about her mothering. The tale opens with the narrator explaining the pain she feels when she is
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it places an enormous psychological weight upon a daughter’s lifelong character and well-being. However‚ when the inescapable struggles of economic depression and single motherhood arise‚ such a bond is sacrificed. Throughout Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing”‚ a mother looks back at her daughter‚ Emily’s‚ childhood and contemplates the positive and negative elements of their relationship that have derived as a result of her inability to provide proper care and participation in her daughter’s life
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commonly used in many pieces of literature to convey a deeper meaning. Although there can be multiple themes‚ they all serve the same purpose and allow the reader to determine an overall meaning for themselves. Three common themes developed in “I Stand Here Ironing‚” by Tillie Olsen‚ are the lifelong search for one’s identity‚ womanhood and femininity and how it can affect a person‚ and the inevitable hardships of motherhood. The theme of identity can serve as a way to tell a reader about the certain
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Reading Log Summary: "I stand here ironing" is about a mother reflecting on the past she shared with her daughter Emily. Their life consisted of many unfortunate events beginning with Emily’s father abandoning them at a very young age. The mother couldn’t afford to spend much time with her to provide enough love and affection as she struggled to make ends meet. This lead Emily to have a rough childhood plagued with illness‚ insecurity and unhappiness. Although she had a difficult childhood‚ Emily
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The mother in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” and the mother in the poem “Daystar” are very important characters. The mother in “I stand Here Ironing” has a negative personality. She is very powerless. On page 80‚ the mother says‚ “You think because I am her mother I have a key‚ or that in some way you could use me as a key?” This shows just because she is the mother that doesn’t mean she has this magic to help. She has a very negative attitude instead of being happy. Her place in society
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I Stand Here Ironing- Exploring the Text Some of the main themes that are exemplified in the work include ideals of family connections‚ stifling beauty expectations‚ the daily life of motherhood‚ etc. The ironing board represents the life of a housewife‚ and the repetitive chores that ensue. It shows the mother is the responsible head of the house during the war‚ and thus the caretaker. The act of ironing may symbolize the mother’s attempt to iron through‚ work through‚ or smooth out what is happening
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“I Stand Here Ironing” Responses to questions: 1. The narrator is not a good mother because she does not care about Emily’s future. The narrator is the mother of Emily‚ Susan‚ and Ronnie. She says that the father of Emily left her “[…] before [Emily] was a year old” (paragraph 55). She had to get a job and work during Emily’s “[…] first six years” (55). The narrator went to Nursery School because she believed that it was the only way “[…] [she] could hold a job” (13) during the Great Depression
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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
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“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is a story about a mother who loves her child deeply‚ but it is at a depressing time in history. Other dark influences seem to have a negative effect on Emily’s personality such as the mother giving birth to her at a young age and having few resources. I think the climax of the story is when Emily calls her mother to tell her she has won the amateur school show. Emily and her mother seem equally surprised. Although Emily is happy at the moment‚ it doesn’t really
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Fiction Reading Log A Mother’s Struggle: Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” examines a mother’s internal struggle about the way she raised her eldest daughter Emily. By opening with “I stand here ironing” the author depicts the oppressive world of domestic tasks that engulfed and forms the mother’s life.” The repetitive motion of the iron moving “back and forth” across the surface of the ironing board mimics the mother’s thought process as she moves back
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