I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen
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I Stand Here Ironing
by Tillie Olsen
I don't think any other story has had a stronger effect on me than that of a troubled and guilt-stricken mother reflecting upon the unbalanced and unstable childhood of her first-born daughter. In the short story I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen, one can really learn some valuable lessons about life.
This short story is told in the style of a dramatic monologue in which the narrator is the mother and the listener is her psychiatrist, or a doctor of some kind. I think this style is particularly effective because readers are guided through the narrator's thoughts, feelings and past. The mother is revealing more to us than she thinks, hence the objective of the dramatic monologue. She is filled with guilt, regret and sadness for the way she raised her daughter, Emily, and blames herself for what Emily has grown up to be. The mother's estranged husband left her when she was nineteen and had just given birth to Emily. Since then, the mother had no time to raise her and she grew up in an unhealthy environment deprived of love. As a grown up nineteen-year-old, she is psychologically disturbed because of her childhood. We can see the mother's attempts to conceal her grief and deep sadness by making excuses for the way her daughter was raised and the way she turned out...