ipl-logo

Short Story I Stand Here Ironing

1562 Words7 Pages

Jude Mardigras
Mr. Gilchrist
English 1102
16 April 2023
The Use of The Third Pronoun, SHE, In the Short Story "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen
Tillie Olsen's Short Story, "I Stand Here Ironing," tells the story of a mother's reflections on her struggles in raising her firstborn daughter in a patriarchal society. The story is set during the 1950s, a time when the role of women in society was limited and the feminist movement was gaining momentum. Using the third-person pronoun "she," Olsen provides a powerful tool to highlight the mother's struggles and the impact of societal pressures on her experiences. This paper will explore how the use of "She" in the Story is an effective …show more content…

The daughter's life is marked by poverty, illness, and a lack of opportunities. The mother recognizes these circumstances' impact on her daughter's life and feels a sense of guilt and regret for not being able to do more for her. The story is set in the mid-twentieth century when women were expected to fulfill the traditional gender roles of wife and mother. Single mothers were stigmatized and viewed as a failure for not conforming to these gender roles. This societal norm resulted in economic and social discrimination against single mothers, making it even more challenging for them to raise their children. The mother in the story is a single mother who had to leave her daughter in daycare as an infant while she worked to support them. The mother's absence significantly impacted her daughter's life, as she struggled with emotional and behavioral issues. The narrator states, "Her father left me before she was a year old" (Olsen, 2014). The mother ironing is a metaphor for the constant struggle to make ends meet and raise a child alone. The mother is ironing Emily's clothes, symbolizing her attempts to iron out the difficulties and challenges she faced in raising her daughter. The mother's reflection on Emily's childhood shows the impact of societal norms on women's lives and the difficulties single mothers face. The …show more content…

"A Summary and Analysis of Tillie Olsen's 'I Stand Here Ironing.'" Interesting Literature, 6 Mar. 2023, https://interestingliterature.com/2023/03/tillie-olsen-i-stand-here-ironing-summary-analysis/.
"I Stand Here Ironing." Encyclopedia.com, https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/i-stand-here-ironing. Accessed 24 Mar. 2023.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. "Analysis of Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing." Literary Theory and Criticism, 26 May 2021, https://literariness.org/2021/05/26/analysis-of-tillie-olsens-i-stand-here-ironing/.
Olsen, Tillie. "I Stand Here Ironing." Jerrywbrown.com, https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/I-Stand-Here-Ironing-by-Tillie-Olsen.pdf. Accessed 24 Mar.

Show More
Related

Essay On Pete Rose In The Hall Of Fame

543 Words | 3 Pages

Accessed 23 Jan.

Read More

Tension In The Boat By Alistair Macleod

1203 Words | 5 Pages

“My mother never accepted any of the young men, for in her eyes they seemed always a combination of the lazy, the effeminate, the dishonest and the unknown. They never seemed to do any physical work and she could not comprehend their luxurious vacations and she did not know whence they came not who they were.” (8) The mother grew even farther from her daughters, she had finally lost them completely. She had no respect for their curious need to read books and explore. Creating a tension not just between her and her daughter but the family as a

Read More

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, And A Will To Survive By Stephanie Land

500 Words | 2 Pages

She makes minimum wage, which in her case was not nearly enough to be a livable wage. Her and her daughter were having to survive off of less than $1,000 a month. Due to her lack of resources, Stephanie accepts government assistance. In her community, she faces harsh judgements and classist stereotypes. These stereotypes can be crippling, and led to a lot of stress in Stephanie’s life and parenting.

Read More

Brief Overview Of The 13 Major Court Cases

1298 Words | 6 Pages

Accessed 1 June

Read More

What Are The Similarities Between Sonny's Blues And I Stand Here Ironing

1580 Words | 7 Pages

Both Baldwin and Olsen demonstrate the harsh realities of some people’s lives through their realistic fiction shorts stories. Works Cited Bao, Zhongming, and Mindan Wei. " A psychoanalytic interpretation of mother-daughter relationship in" I stand here ironing".

Read More

Imagery In Jamaica Kincaid's Short Story Girl

464 Words | 2 Pages

The contrast between success and independence is what makes this short story so memorable, it is a give and a take for the mother, the mother gives her the idea of her success while saying she is a slut that she is bent on becoming makes the undertone of freedom. The story overall though can be taken many ways can be seen as a mother reaching out to a teen girl in hopes to make her a great

Read More

The Struggle In Mary Freeman's The Revolt Of Mother

676 Words | 3 Pages

During the 19th century, women were overshadowed by the men of their household, therefore they had no sense of independence nor dominance. In Mary Freeman’s short story, “The Revolt of Mother,” the author presents Sarah Penn, a woman who takes a stand against her husband. In the beginning, the reader learns that Sarah is a hardworking mother and wife. She maintains the household work and meets her children needs. She is suddenly confused of her husband’s actions concerning their future.

Read More

Comparing 'The Yellow Wallpaper And A Jury Of Her Peers'

1006 Words | 5 Pages

Authors, especially female authors, have long used their writing to emphasize and analyze the feminist issues that characterize society, both in the past and the present. Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote narratives that best examined feminist movements through the unreliable minds of their characters. In all three stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “A Jury of Her Peers”, the authors use characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing to describe the characters’ apparent psychosis or unreasonable behavior to shed light on the social issues that characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century. Penning many stories that demonstrate her opinions on the social issues of the era,

Read More

Theme Of Naturalism In Ethan Frome

2705 Words | 11 Pages

So instead he waits outside for Mattie, to take her home for the next morning of chores and care taking for his wife, at least like this he can behold her beauty in quiet. In the short story, Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses her character’s unfortunate life story to provide readers with an example of naturalistic and realistic conflict.

Read More

Empowerment And Discrimination In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

1068 Words | 5 Pages

In Taylor’s life, she has witnessed first-hand how burdening it is to be a single parent because of her mother, being one of few women in Pittman County who had no choice but to parent alone, Taylor was well aware that “single parents do the parenting work of both parents; cooking, cleaning, working, teaching, and caring for their child because of the absent parent” (Johnson). Taylor’s mother received plenty of unkind comments about not getting married, but she persservered and gave Taylor all the love she had and Taylor did the same for Turtle. She was also taught by her mother that how and where individuals are brought up determines their likelihood of success. When she was younger, her mother told her, “a person isn’t nothing more than a scarecrow. You, me, Earl Wickentot, the President of the United States, and even God Almighty, as far as I can see.

Read More

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

940 Words | 4 Pages

Often times women were unable to break of their repressive bonds in their marriages. Throughout the 19th century, many women were left at home all day to oversee domestic duties. They had such great influence at home which gave men the need to constantly put them in their place, which was beneath theirs. It was the women’s job to please their husbands who dictated every aspect of their life. In all four texts, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Emily Dickinson’s, “She Rose to His Requirement”, Susan Glaspell’s, Trifles and Zora Neale Hurston’s

Read More

Controversial Women In The Life You Save May Be Your Own, By Alice Walker

1077 Words | 5 Pages

Short stories are a delicacy in literature. Some short stories have comparable plots, themes, or even characters. Lucynell Crater from “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor and Maggie Johnson from “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker are two controversial women created in the American Literature movement. Lucynell and Maggie are both vulnerable characters that depend on others for survival in life through different experiences of innocence, race, and class in the American South.

Read More

Tupac Shakur Personal Narrative

551 Words | 3 Pages

“ For every dark night there is a brighter day” said Tupac shakur. Hello,My name is Lilia Brazile,and this is my story. I love many things ,and have many interest. My friends, family music ,and much more are a big part of my life .I made a mandala to represent all the things i love.

Read More

Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

727 Words | 3 Pages

Growing up as a woman has been quite difficult in this generation, however, growing up around thirty years ago must have been more difficult. Back in the 1900’s, women had different social norms to deal with in society. Women had to stay at home, be housewives, do the laundry, and cook while men went out and worked to obtain money for their family. In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, she tells the struggles that women went through back in the 1990 's and the social norms that women had to go through. Chopin addresses many instances of symbolism to portray the feeling Mrs. Mallard has about her own thoughts and experiences with or without a man in her life.

Read More

Metaphors In A Doll House

1567 Words | 7 Pages

In 1880s, women in America were trapped by their family because of the culture that they were living in. They loved their family and husband, but meanwhile, they had hard time suffering in same patterns that women in United States always had. With their limited rights, women hoped liberation from their family because they were entirely complaisant to their husband. Therefore, women were in conflicting directions by two compelling forces, their responsibility and pressure. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses metaphors of a doll’s house and irony conversation between Nora and Torvald to emphasize reality versus appearance in order to convey that the Victorian Era women were discriminated because of gender and forced to make irrational decision by inequity society.

Read More

More about Short Story I Stand Here Ironing

Related Topics

Open Document