What does the ironing represent in I stand here?

What does the ironing represent in I stand here?

The Iron. The iron represents the chores and responsibilities that prevented the narrator from engaging with Emily’s life more profoundly. As the story’s title suggests, the narrator is constantly embroiled in the duties she must perform to effectively care for her family.

What is the climax in I Stand Here Ironing?

At the story’s climax, Emily herself enters the room where the narrator has been ironing and reflecting throughout the story. Emily is in a cheerful, talkative mood, and the narrator suddenly wonders why anyone would worry about her.

What illness did Emily have in I Stand Here Ironing?

Emily was sick with the measles when the narrator went to the hospital to have another daughter, Susan. During twice-monthly visits, the narrator had to shout to Emily, who stood on a balcony some distance away, because all the parents were forbidden from getting too close to their children.

What literary techniques are used in I Stand Here Ironing?

Literary techniques can offer the reader a greater understanding of situations within literature. Symbolism, flashbacks, and a rapid accumulation of short sentences can be found within Olsen’s passage, “I Stand Here Ironing,” to characterize the mother and her attitude toward …show more content…

What kind of mother do you think the mother is in I Stand Here Ironing?

The character of the mother in “I Stand Here Ironing” is one that is strong and wise. Throughout the story, she reflects on various events in Emily’s life that shaped the person she is today: self-sufficient and independent.

How does Olsen reveal a message about motherhood with the text I Stand Here Ironing?

In “I Stand Here Ironing,” Olsen suggests that the role of selfless mother that society expects women to embrace is actually an obstacle to any kind of successful self-discovery. Rather than help women achieve self-actualization, motherhood actually strands women in lives laden with toil and excessive responsibility.

What is the narrator’s biggest concern about her daughter in I Stand Here Ironing?

Emily was the narrator’s first child, the one born into a state of crisis—hard work, little money, and no father around to help. The narrator’s guilt and regret stem from her worries about what the long-term effects of Emily’s forced self-control will ultimately be.

What is the narrator doing in I Stand Here Ironing?

The narrator is weighed down with domestic duties, and the constant demands of a large family run counter to a life of thoughtful consideration. Her extended meditation on the state of her daughter is framed by labor, the domestic duty of ironing the family’s clothes.

What does the title of Tillie Olsen’s story I Stand Here Ironing tell us about its point of view quizlet?

“I stand here ironing” is a short story written by Tillie Olsen. The title is significant because as the un-named mother is telling the story of her troubled daughter she is ironing. The title is significant because it represents the half and half nature of narrator and her mothers christian faith and Chinese beliefs.

What is the message of I Stand Here Ironing?

“I stand here ironing” is a short story written by an American writer Tillie Lerner Olsen. This story was published along with other short stories in her collection Tell Me a Riddle in 1961. The lingering effects of war are depicted in the story. Moreover, the narrator talks about the time of great depression.

What is the theme of I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen?

The short story by Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing, is an example of a mother-daughter struggle. From what I understand, the young mother initially has a rough life, and can barely keep track of herself and her daughter, Emily.

How does the narrator describe her daughter in I Stand Here Ironing?

The narrator of “I Stand Here Ironing” describes her daughter as “a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear.” Though the story was published in 1961, it too has been seen as having ties to the Depression era and to the socially-conscious literature of the thirties.

Why does the mother stand there ironing like a sedative?

This is why, at the beginning of the story, someone who cares about Emily, is asking her mother how he/she can help Emily. And, as the mother stands there ironing, she contemplates her daughter and the troubles that they have. The constant motion of the ironing is like a sedative to the mother, as it calms her greatly.