"I Stand Here Ironing" is a powerful feminist work that explores the struggles of single mothers' efforts in the early 1900s, namely the near impossibility of filling the expected role of a caring stay-at-home mother while working, a situational necessity equally as shunned.
Tillie Olsen uses the pleading of a struggling woman who has tried (and mostly failed) to embolden her first child and foster a clear mother-daughter relationship, highlighting unrealistic societal expectations for women and mothers in the 1930s.
The story explores the tension between love and resentment in the relationship between the mother and daughter. Emily is a troubled child who has been sent to several different schools but cannot fit in. As a result, The mother
…show more content…
The mother's guilt establishes a sense of dramatic irony, as the mother blames Emily’s inability to coincide with decorum on her inability, failing to become the
“perfect” mother society expects her to be.
Reeves 2
The story also highlights societal pressures regarding relationships between mothers and daughters and the impact of such. Throughout the story, The Mother desperately tries (and fails) to follow every book and advice column she can find on how to build familial relationships; the mother feels guilty for not being able to provide Emily with the kind of life she deserves but also feels the pressure to conform to societal expectations of what a mother should be. These conflicting pressures make it difficult for the mother to navigate her relationship with Emily, leading to guilt and resentment.
Moreover, the story shows how Emily's troubled childhood results from society's treatment of women. The mother in the story is forced to work long hours and still cannot properly provide her daughter with stable home life, resulting in a struggle to fit in at school.
This reflects the impact of poverty on children and how a lack of resources can contribute to academic and social difficulties, also establishing a catch-22, where the mother must work