I Stand Here Essay
Joe Sugg
Essay –
I Stand Here Ironing
AP English 4
1-17-15
Essay Prompt
Using the short story
I Stand Here Ironing
, write an essay in which you analyze the narrative techniques and other resources of language Olsen uses to characterize the mother and the mother’s attitudes toward her daughter. In addition to the text, consider background information presented, including the PowerPoint and the interview with the writer.
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“She was a beautiful baby,” (1) the mother gushes in the beginning of the short story
I Stand
Here Ironing
. However the turns into “thin, dark and foreign-looking” (3) as the mother tells the tale of her daughter Emily. Tillie Olsen utilizes many …show more content…
The mother does not like the fact that her daughter is a stranger to her, but she had to do what she thought was best for Emily at the time. The interior monologue really helps with the characterization of the mother’s attitude towards her daughter. With interior monologue, the reader has no choice not to know exactly what the mother is thinking and feelings throughout the entire story.
In addition to the interior monologue, Olsen uses repetition in the story to further characterize the mother and her feelings. This repetition is shown through the back and forth motion of the iron. This story is the interior monologue of the mother while she is standing at an ironing board, ironing her clothes. Just like the iron, the story goes back and forth with what she is thinking and contributes to the flow of the story. It is evident in the first sentence when she says,
“...what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (1). This also adds to her stream-of-consciousness as the mother will be talking about something great with her daughter, then tell about something bad, then back to a good thing. For example, the mother describes
Essay –
I Stand Here Ironing
AP English 4
1-17-15
Essay Prompt
Using the short story
I Stand Here Ironing
, write an essay in which you analyze the narrative techniques and other resources of language Olsen uses to characterize the mother and the mother’s attitudes toward her daughter. In addition to the text, consider background information presented, including the PowerPoint and the interview with the writer.
*****************************************************************************************
“She was a beautiful baby,” (1) the mother gushes in the beginning of the short story
I Stand
Here Ironing
. However the turns into “thin, dark and foreign-looking” (3) as the mother tells the tale of her daughter Emily. Tillie Olsen utilizes many …show more content…
The mother does not like the fact that her daughter is a stranger to her, but she had to do what she thought was best for Emily at the time. The interior monologue really helps with the characterization of the mother’s attitude towards her daughter. With interior monologue, the reader has no choice not to know exactly what the mother is thinking and feelings throughout the entire story.
In addition to the interior monologue, Olsen uses repetition in the story to further characterize the mother and her feelings. This repetition is shown through the back and forth motion of the iron. This story is the interior monologue of the mother while she is standing at an ironing board, ironing her clothes. Just like the iron, the story goes back and forth with what she is thinking and contributes to the flow of the story. It is evident in the first sentence when she says,
“...what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (1). This also adds to her stream-of-consciousness as the mother will be talking about something great with her daughter, then tell about something bad, then back to a good thing. For example, the mother describes