I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen - Book Report/Review Example

I Stand Here Ironing: A Review 2007 I Stand Here Ironing: A Review I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen is a piece of literature which truly has an incredible amount of intrigue and significance. In order to come to a better understanding on this work, there are many issues that need to be addressed. First and foremost there must be an overall analysis of the literature itself, which will be done not only by summarizing the actual work but as well by using other authors’ opinions and other works of literature revolved around this particular piece of work, so that the best overall judgment can be made. Not only will this be completed, but as well any and all other key related issues and factors will be thoroughly addressed and examined. This is what will be dissertated in the following. I Stand Here Ironing is a piece of literature which was written by Tillie Olsen, and which was originally published in Olsen’s first collection of stories, titled Tell me a Riddle, in the year 1971. The basic ideal of the book is that it tells the story of a poor working woman’s ambivalence regarding her parenting skills and as well about the future of her eldest daughter. It is an incredibly dynamic and detailed piece of literature, and it truly brings about a vast multitude of issues and complexities within its pages. It is a first person story which contains many different autobiographical elements, and “Central to the plot is the metaphor of a mother ironing her daughter’s dress as she mentally attempts to ‘iron out’ her uneasy relationship with her daughter through a stream-of-consciousness monologue” (Bookrags, 2007). The story is revealed in a narrative format, and we basically get to see the entirety of the lead character, the mother’s life. It is a monologue, or a speech which is delivered by this mother, the narrator of the story, with whom the reader comes to identify. At the outset, the mother truly does confess her powerlessness over her life and over her daughter in particular, asking “You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key?” (Olsen, 1971). Emily, who is the daughter being spoken of here, is the mother’s eldest daughter at nineteen years old, and she is a child who has really been pitied in ways, even by her own mother, who stated that “She was a child seldom smiled at” (Olsen, 1971). Truly here, and throughout a large part of the rest of the book, we see how the mother regrets many things during her eldest daughter’s life, and that she wishes she could go back to change things and be a ‘better mother’. She was struggling to make ends meet for her family as a hard-working mother in a hectic world, and as we become more familiar with Emily we can see that she really is an intelligent and well brought up young lady, and that she is perhaps far more mature and less disappointed than her mother tends to think. This story is one which is incredibly dense, as it packs a number of different and yet equally profound social concerns into an incredibly small space. Thus, “It is important, then, for the reader to infer a great deal when reading Olsen’s story and constantly to ask questions about what social forces have frustrated the narrator and why. To do so is to become aware of Olsen’s concerns about the inequitable treatment of women, the lack of social services (child care in particular), the inadequacy of pay for menial jobs, and the pressure the mass of people put on individuals to conform to seemingly arbitrary standards” (Bookrags, 2007). One of the most major issues that are discussed in this literature is that of the daughter, Emily, and her upbringing. This seems to be a very sensitive and important issue to the narrator, as well as the author, and we can see that the circumstances in which Emily was raised are certainly not horrific, however, as with so many children in today’s world, her parents – her mother in particular in this case – felt as though she was not given enough attention and that, basically, she simply was not loved enough. As well we see that the state of her physical and emotional well-being was really not all that great, as she was very tall and lanky as a child, and she was often teased for being so skinny. She was quite depressed as a child, and she really felt for a lot of it that she had no one to turn to, as her mother was busy working trying to support the household and she really had no friends of her own. We immediately feel pity for Emily, as well as for the mother, as we know that they are both trying to do their best, and as well most of us can relate at least one of their stories to our own lives. There are many mistakes that are made note of in regards to how Emily’s mother raised her daughter, and we are also made aware of the fact that for the most part, her mother is quite aware of her ‘mistakes’. Emily’s mother blames herself for a lot, namely for not giving her daughter enough personal attention and for not showing her enough love. However at the same time we are able to see that most of these factors were really out of her mother’s control, as she was a single mother and working hard just to get her and her family by. It is obvious that she is a loving and considerate mother and that she cares for her family more than anything else in the world, and thus surely if she could have spent more time and been around more for her children she would have. We see from what is happening with Emily’s life at the present that, even with all the ‘mistakes’ that her mother considers as occurring throughout her daughter’s life, that Emily really did turn out to be a decent human being, and that she loves her mother more than anything and now, as a young adult, is truly able to understand the sacrifices that her mother had to make when she was a child and does not hold any grudges towards her in this regards. One of the most intriguing and pointed parts of this piece of literature is that really, any woman reading it would be able to very likely relate to the main character, the mother, as she is narrating the story and thus the reader is given a first person point of view while reading the story. There are really no incredibly detailed excerptions made about the mother, and so she is thus left rather simple and yet the story itself is wonderfully and interestingly complex. This piece of literature is truly unique in many different areas and for various different reasons, which is one of the explanations as to why it is such a great read. This piece of literature is, without a doubt, one of the most intense and heart wrenching among all of its kind, and we are able to learn many different life lessons from it. We see issues illustrated within the pages of this work which are around us everyday and most likely even taking place in our own life. Thus, this piece of literature is one which truly affects us all in one way or another, particularly the women readers, and Olsen truly proves her greatness as an author in this work. Works Cited Bookrags (2007). I Stand Here Ironing, online article retrieved March 14, 2007, from http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-istandhereironing/overview.html Enotes (2007). Tillie Olsen, online article retrieved March 14, 2007 from http://www.enotes.com/stand-here/33571 Gale (2002). Tillie Olsen’s ‘I Stand Here Ironing’: A Study Guide From Gale’s ‘Short Stories for Students’. New York: The Gale Group. Kirschner, Linda Heinlein (1976). ‘I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen’, The English Journal, 65 (1), 58-59. Lauter, Paul (2004). Taking Anthologies Seriously. New York: Melus. Olsen, Tillie. (1971). Tell Me a Riddle. Surrey: Delta Publishing. Read More