I+Stand+Here+Ironing

**__Summary:__**
"I Stand Here Ironing" is the story of a mother who is thinking about her oldest daughter. She is asked by the an unknown individual, possibly a teacher or social worker, to come in an help him understand her daughter's (Emily), so he can understand and help her. It then seems as though the mother flashes back to Emily's life, saying that she was the one who nursed her and that she was a beautiful baby, but that did not give her a key to understanding her. When Emily was young, her mother would have to drop her off at her father's parents house at night, so she could go to work and be with Emily in the day time. When Emily was 2 she had to go to nursery care, Emily a hated it so much, she would always make excuses to //try// not to go, but would never say she //wouldn't// go. Her mother still worked at night so she would be left alone at night. She was then sent to a convalescent home, where they never gave her a gold star for good writing, wouldn't let her keep anything personal, including letters from her mother. Her parents finally convinced a social worker that that place was bad for her and got her out of there. But she never fit in at school, no matter how much she candy she gave out, she never had any real friends. Emily was a slow in physical development, as well as learning, and was always teased for that. She was obsessed with beauty, and thinking about how everyone else is beautiful. Finally, they found that Emily was good at performing. She did a skit for the school talent show and got first place. Emily doesn't care about school, she thinks in a few years it wont matter what grades she got in high school. In the end the mother concludes that Emily should be let to her own devices. "She is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron".

__**Topics:**__
Childhood, Motherhood, Family, School, Beauty, Regret.

__**Evaluation:**__
"I Stand Here Ironing" is a mother flashing back to the high points of Emily's life, from Emily's point of view. She only talks about how hard it was for Emily, not how hard it was to be a young mother, figuring out how to raise a child. She takes everyone's advice, not knowing what to do for herself, and looks back on what she did, now knowing what she would have don't if she had had any experience. She picks these memories because these were the hardest on Emily, and she thinks these had the greatest impact on who she is today. She thinks that if she had only not sent Emily to the convalescent home, or the nursery, then she might not be so independent today, she might have friends, and be able to depend on her mother more. She is looking back with regret, only thinking about Emily, not thinking about how hard it was to be away from her daughter, or working and getting no sleep.

Emily's mother has couple of other children now. She briefly talks about how they are better off, because she had practice being a mother with Emily, so now she can do it better with these new children. She doesn't stay on the subject long, but long enough for me to think that she also regrets being a better mother to these children. She thinks that she failed Emily as a mother, saying that she basically raised herself, but is fine now. She looks at the other children and I believe that she kind of says to herself that these children got to have it so easy, because she is a better mother now, or she is in a better situation now, and they don't deserve it, or that she doesn't deserve to be a mother again, for how much she thinks she failed Emily.

I would like to make reference to the title, "I Stand Here Ironing". Ironing is a simple task, it does not take a lot of thought. If we are to believe that the mother gave the story this title, I think its because she is referencing, that this is what she was doing, while her daughter was off growing up by herself. I think that she is saying, in the title alone, that all she was doing was standing at the iron. And by a small leap, i believe this is another reference to how useless she feels now that she looks back on her first child being raised. She feels that if she had dropped the iron for just one second, and done something, that her child might not have turned out this way. That there might be more of a mother/daughter relationship, and she might understand her daughter more, but no. She was ironing, so she couldn't be bothered with raising her first child. (that last sentence is meant to be red sarcastically and through the point of view of the mother)

**__Citation:__**
//Olsen, Tillie. “I Stand Here Ironing”. Literature and the Writing Process,// Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. 9th Edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. 290-295. Print.

=**Wiki Part 2**=

__Resources:__

 * Internet Resource:** Information on [|Tillie Olsen]

This website talks about how Olsen went back to school when she was 42 to become a writer. Her first story, "I Stand Here Ironing" in 1955, was published shortly after receiving a scholarship from Stanford University. She produced 4 more stories in the next 8 years and put them all together in the book "Tell Me a Riddle". She was awarded many achievements for this book, and her work has been in hundreds of books, 2 plays and 3 movies. In 1970 she was a founding member in the Feminine Press, and taught at Stanford University. She continued her activism and encouraged her students to be active as well.

This website was very helpful in getting to know the basic life of Olsen. It gives some context about her life and who she was. It also talks about her work and what the people of that time thought of it, giving specific examples in the the text. This web page was is fairly current, copyrighted for 2013 to the present, it shows very relevant information about the author, although I have no idea who the author is or why it was published, other than a token to an accomplished writer.

"About Tillie". //Tillie Olsen, N.p. 2013.// web. 1, April, 2015.


 * Database Resource:** Articles about "I Stand Here Ironing"