Tillie Olsen’s I Stand Here Ironing Essay - 1044 Words

Tillie Olsen’s I Stand Here Ironing Tillie Olsen was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, the child of political refugees from Russia. Olsen dropped out of school at the age of sixteen to help support her family during the depression. She became politically active in the Young Communist League and was involved in the Warehouse Union’s labor disputes in Kansas City. Her first novel, Yonnondio, about a poor, working-class family, was begun when she was nineteen. While writing the novel over the next four years, she gave birth to her first child and was left to raise the baby alone after her husband abandoned her. She married Jack Olsen in 1936 and had three more children. She remained politically active and held down various jobs while†¦show more content†¦Before the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, women struggled to hold on to their identity while raising children, caring for their husbands and homes, and in Olsen’s case, working to support the family. Like Tillie Olsen, Adrienne Rich struggl ed with society’s expectation of women to become wives, mothers, and homemakers. Both women bought into the angel in the house theory and found themselves unsatisfied. They fought to hold onto their individuality by expressing their ideas through writing, which was not readily accepted in the male dominated literary world. Author Margaret Atwood understands the magnitude of Olsen’s accomplishment saying, Women writers, even more than their male counterparts, recognize what a heroic feat it is to have held down a job, raised four children, and still somehow managed to become and to remain a writer (qtd. in Charters 1128). Though Olsen tells her story honestly, with a matter of fact quality, she stirs the reader with emotion and empathy for the overworked mother and the unintentionally neglected daughter. As the story begins, Olsen receives a call from her daughter’s schoolteacher asking her to come to the school to talk with her about Emily’s problems. Olsen draws the reader in as she addresses the teacher in her thoughts. She wonders, Even if I came in, what good would it do? You think becauseShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Tillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing 1381 Words   |  6 Pages Comedy: Personality Traits or Effects of a Less than Ideal Childhood In Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing†, a mother recalls the life of her first born daughter. She retells the hardships she and her daughter had to go through to make it. The main focus, however, is on the hardships of the daughter, Emily. These hardships, lack of tender love, attention and over abundant strife in Emily’s life, lead to her being unnoticed and somewhat forgotten. In Emily’s late teenage years, comedyRead MoreAnalysis Of Tillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing 1349 Words   |  6 PagesComedy: Personality Traits or Effects of a Less than Ideal Childhood In Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing†, a mother recalls the life of her first born daughter. She retells the hardships she and her daughter went through to survive it. The main focus, however, are the hardships of the daughter, Emily. These hardships, lack of tender love, attention and over abundant strife in Emily’s life, lead to her being unnoticed and somewhat forgotten. In Emily’s late teenage years, comedy became a wayRead MoreAn Analysis Of Tillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing958 Words   |  4 PagesRiddle by Tillie Olsen is a powerful and unforgettable representation of the struggles of the working class, and how gender roles portray the differences in the life of poverty as well as a family unit. In Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie, presents us with an array of several short stories, all in which depict Tillie’s relationship to the Midwest, her point of views on the role of motherhood and her Jewish tradition. I Stand Here Ironing, is probably one of the most powerful pieces that Tillie constructedRead MoreAn Analysis of the Mother in Tillie Olsens Story, I Stand Here Ironing1159 Words   |  5 PagesThe mother in Tillie Olsen’s story, â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† gives insight into the upbringing of her first child. We see she is guilty of neglect towards Emily and is distressed due to poor decisions that she had made rearing her daughter. The mother reflects on the past and thinks that her actions and â€Å"lack of† might have affected Emily. She is so engulfed in â€Å"what ifs† and â€Å"how could I’s† that she is practically beating herself mentally. Poor Emily received little attention when attention was neededRead MoreAnalysis Of Tillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing757 Words   |  4 PagesTillie Olsen published â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† in 1961, and the story focuses on a young single mother who is overwhelmed by the limited financ ial situation during the Great Depression. Throughout the story, the author depicts the mother’s life, which is unfolding as a permanent struggle caused by the shortcomings. Because of the lack of time she starts to neglect her first born child, Emily, and to deprive her of the maternal love. She remains trapped in this situation for many years. However, afterRead MoreTillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing and James Baldwin’s Sonnys Blues855 Words   |  3 Pages Pain and suffering is what brings these two stories together, â€Å"Sonny’s Blue† by James Baldwin and Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing†, both of the narrator describe their feeling towards their love one. Sonny’s Blues is a story about an ambitious musician’s life as it is seen through his older brother’s eyes. The story originates with Sonny’s older brother, who is an Algebra teacher, and finding out that Sonny has been sent to prison due to drugs. He finds this out by reading about the caseRead MoreEssay on Themes Illustrated in Tillie Olsens I Stand Here Ironing732 Words   |  3 Pagesbegins with a sentence â€Å"I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron† (Olsen 73). It is unusual that the story starts with a description of the mother ironing. This strategy easily draws readers’ attention and introduces the narrator character to the readers. â€Å"I stand here ironing† is a very straightforward and simple description, but yet it conveys a deeper meaning and draws the readers into the narrative. The mother’s ironing provides the metaphor forRead MoreA Marxist And Feminist Literary Criticism1243 Words   |  5 Pagesto support in the 1930’s was not an easy job. Especially when society had so many chips stacked against them. Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I stand Here Ironing† is a short story that addresses feminine social disorders and inequalities as well as economic disadvantages that people of lower circumstances have to overcome to survive. In the short story it is basically an autobiography of Tillie Olsen’s life told by the narrator (Emily’s mother). Throughout the story the narrator is reflecting the way she broughtRead MoreTillie Olsen : I Stand Here Ironing870 Words   |  4 PagesTillie Olsen: â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† Tillie Olsen is acknowledged as one of the most important writers in American literature. Even though her reputation was built on a small body of work, Olsen is recognized for her skill as a storyteller, and her determination to give hope to people of different races, genders, or classes. Olsen’s most famous short story, â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing,† is known for its adverse symbols, point of view, and themes. Tillie Olsen was born in Omaha, Nebraska on January 14Read MoreA Mothers Struggle I Stand Here Ironing891 Words   |  4 Pages2011 Short Fiction Reading Log A Mother’s Struggle: Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† examines a mother’s internal struggle about the way she raised her eldest daughter Emily. By opening with â€Å"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 â€Å"back and forth† across the surface of the ironing board mimics the mother’s thought process as she moves