I Stand Here Ironing By Tillie Olson

The Perspective of time through different stories.

Perspective can change everything. Looking at something from a different perspective or from a different lens can impact how someone interprets it. Using a story as a lens to further understand another story is a prime example of how we can use the theories from one text and connect them to another. “I stand here ironing” by Tillie Olson is about a mother who lives during the time of the Great Depression. We can see the struggles she had to go through when it comes to money, especially when caring for and being there for her children. The story “In search of our mother’s garden” by Alice Walker is about many black women who lived through the time of slavery and the Jim Crow laws. We can

Emily had to deal with her mother leaving every day to go to work and not returning for hours on end. She had to get used to this sensation of loneliness and potential abandonment from her mother because her mother really needed the money, especially during this time. The Great Depression was an immense struggle, and it was due to the extremely high rates of unemployment. This made being a mother during this time extremely hard as she had to put in extra work to be able to provide for her family. Emily ended up growing up more reserved when it came to her mother and family due to the immense amount of pressure and stress, she had been having to endure from such an early age. Olson mentions, "She kept too much in herself, her life was such she had to keep too much in herself. My wisdom came too late.” (Olson). Since Emily had grown up in such a challenging time globally, it impacted the type of person she had grown up to be. What if she had not grown up during the Great Depression? How different would her life have been? Through this text we only really get to see one point of view and perspective on how difficult the Great Depression was and