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The Use Of Doubles In Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing

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Tillie Olsen uses doubling in “I Stand Here Ironing” to symbolize the fear that the narrator expresses for her eldest daughter Emily. The narrator fears that her life is being reflected in her daughter. She does not want her daughter to grow up the way she did. They are at odds with each other throughout the story. Emily needs help and her mother is not in the right place to give her that help. The use of doubles in this story reflects the lives of Emily and the narrator to show how similar they actually are.
In this story, the narrator is expressing her concerns for Emily’s future to an unnamed individual. The narrator was only 19 years old when she had her first child. Emily is now 19 (Olsen 223, 224). The teenage years are an important time for growth and independence into young adulthood. During the depression, Emily’s mother was struggling to care for herself and her baby. Based on the conversation at the beginning of the story between the narrator and the unnamed individual, Emily seems to be heading down a similar path of …show more content…

Raising children is not easy and making sure that every child has exactly what they need to be happy and healthy can be a challenge. Living as a child of a single mother is not easy either. The narrator and Emily in Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” are both flawed. Each has lived a life of hardships and fought through feelings of inadequacy. Each is working towards making a better life for themselves. While the narrator feels regret for not being able to raise her daughter right, she understands that mistakes will be made and her children can still grow up to be okay in the world. While Emily learns from her past and works towards a new future, it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect child. In realizing that the narrator and Emily are very similar in their personalities as well as their young adult struggles, it is important to lean on family members for support in times of

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Miss Emily comes from an old wealthy line of family in the deep south. Faulkner story is highly symbolic, enhancing miss Emily’s values and character. “Miss Emily is described as a fallen monument to the chivalric American South”(Allmon). Faulkner uses the setting of the story to show the emotional state of Emily. The female-male relationship between Emily and her father is strict, oppressive, and controlling; Their relationship has a major impact on Emily’s character Throughout the short story.

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Emily is filled with guilt and regret as her actions of disobeyment towards her mother had led her to substantial consequences that she will hold onto for the rest of her life. In conclusion, Emily is hurt with her own consequences and is now left helpless with her own thoughts and pain, although now she continuously grows as she is aware of the impacts of her decisions which allows her to gain lessons in a new

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In the story both the mother and Emily had many difficult events in their life. Although they have had tough memories their change in identity was more positive. In “I Stand Here Ironing” the mother and Emily have had difficult times in their life but their identity had a positive outcome. In the text it states “ Her Father left me before she was a year old… We were poor and could not afford food for her..

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(385) which made the mother doubt herself and therefore sent Emily away once again thinking that it was the best choice for Emily since she couldn't give her the undivided attention she needed due to the newborn baby that just arrived. Eight months has past and now Emily is back home but yet again she was a different person and all of the affection the mom was showing towards Emily just made her push her mother away more, making the mother believe that she has failed once again. But in the end, the mother

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A common conflict within a familial unit is the parent-child relationship. There are countless works of literature that discuss and analyze the topic thoroughly. I Stand Here Ironing is a short story, by Tillie Olsen, that beautifully displays the perspective of the working single mother in the mid-nineteen hundreds. Olsen’s strategic use of several literary elements highlight the personal struggles of single mothers who have conflicting feelings about motherly duties and “bread-winning” obligations.

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When I read the story, at first I did feel sorry for Emily, but as they story continued I began to pity her less. Even though she had a difficult life, she could have turned it around. She was given her father's house, she had a servant and she had no taxes to

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It is, by today's standards, unfortunate that George is privileged to make the decision not to go to college while Emily — who is a demonstrably more promising scholar — seems not to have the same choice. Still, young women of Emily's day, particularly those in rural locales, were fortunate just to finish high

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