Literature - I stand here ironing - Essay Example

As mother goes back to fetch her past life, we as readers get a glimpse of Emily’s childhood. There are few intrusions that bring her back to the present like "I put the iron down" (p. 12); "Ronnie is calling. He is wet and I change him" (p. 17); "She is coming.” (p. 19). But this journey of recollection ends on a positive note, “At the end she comes to understand that shed done the best she could, given the circumstances—but this simple insight, and her journey toward it, are quietly devastating.

” (Disher, 2001: 91) Emily is a nineteen year old in the present. She is confident woman and has found the art of self-expression through mime. But occasionally she can behave erratically and her sense of self-worth gets dented. That is when she wants to be assured of her beauty and her attractiveness. Emily would insist on being told, "over and over how beautiful she had been--and would be, I would tell her--and was now, to the seeing eye. But the seeing eyes were few or non-existent. Including mine" (p. 10). That was when her alienation, her isolation and her mother’s helplessness and guilt became obvious and grew more intense: "the unsureness, the having to be conscious of words before you speak, the constant caring--what are they thinking of me? . . ." (p. 17). But Emily has found self-worth, expression and confidence as a skilled performer of pantomime.

As happy as her mother is of her achievement, it cannot acquit her completely. She is still haunted by her own past, by her pained alienation from a daughter for few months, and by Emily’s failure to adjust in the new family. Emily’s counselor insists she ‘needs help’ but her mother acknowledges Emily’s skill as a mime artist and knows that she has found an inner strength through this art. The counselor is possibly worried about Emily’s alienation and isolation. Her mother goes