commonly used in many pieces of literature to convey a deeper meaning. Although there can be multiple themes‚ they all serve the same purpose and allow the reader to determine an overall meaning for themselves. Three common themes developed in “I Stand Here Ironing‚” by Tillie Olsen‚ are the lifelong search for one’s identity‚ womanhood and femininity and how it can affect a person‚ and the inevitable hardships of motherhood. The theme of identity can serve as a way to tell a reader about the certain
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The mother in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” and the mother in the poem “Daystar” are very important characters. The mother in “I stand Here Ironing” has a negative personality. She is very powerless. On page 80‚ the mother says‚ “You think because I am her mother I have a key‚ or that in some way you could use me as a key?” This shows just because she is the mother that doesn’t mean she has this magic to help. She has a very negative attitude instead of being happy. Her place in society
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Reading Log Summary: "I stand here ironing" is about a mother reflecting on the past she shared with her daughter Emily. Their life consisted of many unfortunate events beginning with Emily’s father abandoning them at a very young age. The mother couldn’t afford to spend much time with her to provide enough love and affection as she struggled to make ends meet. This lead Emily to have a rough childhood plagued with illness‚ insecurity and unhappiness. Although she had a difficult childhood‚ Emily
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I Stand Here Ironing- Exploring the Text Some of the main themes that are exemplified in the work include ideals of family connections‚ stifling beauty expectations‚ the daily life of motherhood‚ etc. The ironing board represents the life of a housewife‚ and the repetitive chores that ensue. It shows the mother is the responsible head of the house during the war‚ and thus the caretaker. The act of ironing may symbolize the mother’s attempt to iron through‚ work through‚ or smooth out what is happening
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“I Stand Here Ironing” Responses to questions: 1. The narrator is not a good mother because she does not care about Emily’s future. The narrator is the mother of Emily‚ Susan‚ and Ronnie. She says that the father of Emily left her “[…] before [Emily] was a year old” (paragraph 55). She had to get a job and work during Emily’s “[…] first six years” (55). The narrator went to Nursery School because she believed that it was the only way “[…] [she] could hold a job” (13) during the Great Depression
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personality in many ways. Working is a necessity in life and depending on the job‚ can determine how that person acts in their daily lives. A paragraph from Tillie Olsen’s‚ “I Stand Here Ironing‚” reads this‚ “After a while I found a job hashing at night so I could be with her days‚ and it was better. But it came to where I had to bring her to his family and leave her. It took a long time to raise the money for her fare back.” The narrator was explaining that she could not afford her child. This
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Fiction Reading Log A Mother’s Struggle: Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” examines a mother’s internal struggle about the way she raised her eldest daughter Emily. By opening with “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 “back and forth” across the surface of the ironing board mimics the mother’s thought process as she moves back
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Amber Iannuzzi Iannuzzi 1 Professor Scordia English 101 October 3‚ 2014 Character Analysis In “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen (Published in 1961) we get wrapped into a story from a young single mother’s point of view. Tillie Olsen says she wanted people to “. . . focus on ‘society and its institutions’ that force the narrator to suffer anguish” (402). We all know the idea of what society
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Approach to Parenting in “I stand here ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker The short stories “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker contain many similarities‚ both authors stress the importance of family and the struggles involved in family dynamics. In each story a mother is showing concern in regards to their relationship with their children due to past and present life obstacles. In the story‚ “I stand here ironing” the mother and narrator
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Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin‚ "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen there are a lot of similar things like the point of view‚ internal conflicts‚ and
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