Literary Critique - I Stand Here Ironing
June/17/2016 02:40 PM Filed: Literary Critiques
Photo Credit: Unknown
(Wikipedia)
Poverty and Social Intervention
Tillie Olsen’s 1961 story, “I Stand Here Ironing,” sounds mundane, but Olsen has presented a troubled mother-daughter relationship buried beneath the clothes that need pressing. As this mother goes about her housework, she tells of daughter Emily’s difficult childhood. Portrayed as an asthmatic, underweight waif with psychological problems, this girl is a talented winner in disguise. Her onstage performing abilities are not recognized until later.
The frustration and sadness behind Emily’s behavior are not evident until she is a teenager. “My wisdom came too late. She has much to her and probably little will come of it. She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear.”
Although the root of Emily’s trouble appears to be poverty, her downtrodden parent attributes the girl’s struggling past to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. Significant is this mother’s reaction to her daughter acquiring red measles. Emily does not recover and must be sent to a convalescent home where the child can receive better care than provided at home.
This is not the case, however, since Emily cannot keep possessions. Cards and letters are discarded because the facility does not have room to keep a patient’s items. Instead of convalescing, Emily gets thinner and sicker, refusing to eat food poorer in quality than what she would have received in her own kitchen.
When a social worker agrees to release her after eight months, Emily is physically and mentally scarred. In the end, nothing can take away the pain this intelligent girl has experienced.