Analysis of Literary Elements in Tillie Olsen’s I Stand Here Ironing

Many children feel as though they do not have their parents’ constant love and support while growing up, even if their parents may be trying their best, they still allow this thought to affect the path they take in their future. Emily in “I Stand Here Ironing” happens to be one of these children. Emily’s mother was a single mother who was struggling with money issues, unemployment, as well as a recent divorce which put a strain on her life and caused her to not be as focused on Emily and raising her properly. This all in all caused Emily to feel neglected and she began to push away from her mother more and more as she grew older. Once Emily gradually began to find herself, her mother gained a speck of hope for Emily, however, it was already too late as Emily had pushed too far away from her mother to go back now. Her mother believes that Emily's delayed development was all because she was a young, distracted, and inexperienced mother. The story concludes with her mother hoping that Emily learns to fully find herself and allow her potential to be fulfilled. The intended audience of this story could go two ways, it could be for the individuals who can’t find themselves or don’t believe they’ve reached their full potential, just to let them know that they are not the only ones going through that struggle and it is still possible to get closer to reaching that potential no matter their circumstances. On the other hand, it could also be intended for those individuals who are immensely self-aware and confident, simply to inform them that not everybody is like them and to be aware of others' feelings as some may not be living the same easy lifestyle of self-awareness as them. In I Stand Here Ironing the author, Tillie Olsen, uses an emotional point of view from the mother's perspective, a subtle tone shift from regretful to slightly more hopeful, and finally the use of the iron as a symbol to represent the hardships that come with early motherhood is used to portray the guilt the mother feels with how she raised Emily and to not allow one’s past situations to affect their future. The story is made up of a recollection of memories in chronological order regarding the events of Emily’s life, this is all told through the perspective of the narrator, otherwise known as Emily’s mother. The use of this perspective is to allow the readers to emotionally connect with the mother and truly understand why she feels so regretful of her early motherly decisions, ultimately adding a more realistic vibe to the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is asked to speak about her daughter, Emily, and her childhood. However, her mother claims that if she does begin talking about Emily that she will become immensely overwhelmed by the memories that would arise, this is shown when she claims, “or I will become engulfed with all I did or did not do, with what should have been and what cannot be helped.” She states that instead of feeling like a proud mother when discussing her child's upbringing, she rather feels as if she did not fully succeed as a mother which is what prevented her daughter of reaching her full potential. The author does this to showcase the difficulties the mother had to go through while raising Emily and how she regrets the methods she had chosen to raise her. The purpose of this is that it can send a message to other single mothers that they are not alone and even if they think their parenting skills aren't the best to not regret the past but to instead improve on the future.

The story starts with a regretful tone, which continues for the majority of the story. As the narrator believes that she had not raised Emily properly due to the unfortunate situations that have emerged in her life. The thought of not raising Emily right is what left the mother filled with regret. “Or I will become engulfed with all I did or did not do, with what should have been and what cannot be helped.” At this part of the story, the tone is very hopeless and regretful, Emily’s mother completely blames herself for how Emily had turned out, at this point of the story she feels as though this is how her daughter will be for the rest of her life. However, as the story goes on the mother continues to learn more about her daughter, Emily. The audience can see how the tone becomes a bit more hopeful towards the end of the story, “let her be. So all that is in her will not bloom-but in how many does it?”. This shows that Emily's mother understands that her daughter will never reach her full potential, however, she realizes that her daughter does have room to grow and develop and isn’t completely hopeless about her future anymore. All the mother desires is for Emily to believe in herself and learn how to improve her future life, even with the struggles she grew up with. This little bit of hope that Emily’s mother gained is what continues to carry the message of never allowing one’s past to affect one’s future, which is exactly what Olsen is attempting to get across to her audience in hopes that it may positively impact one of their lives.

Olsen uses the iron in the story as a way of portraying the hardships one must go through in life. It is portrayed as the more flattened you are, the more hardships you have been through. Emily’s mother was immensely flattened as she continues to have a tough life, this is something she never wants Emily to go through. So her mother hopes that Emily eventually realizes, “she is more than this dress on the ironing board”. What Emily’s mother means by this is that she hopes Emily’s future is much easier than what she ever had to go through, also that she discovers her full potential without feeling the need to conform to society's expectations. The purpose of using ironing as a symbol is to show that Emily’s mother was like the dress, laying there waiting to be pressed down. In other words, she allowed her circumstances to shape her entire life instead of trying to do it herself, which is why her mother refers to herself as “helpless before the iron”. This is precisely what Emily's mother hopes her daughter doesn't go through and realizes that she can shape her future and to focus on that, no matter the circumstances she grew up around or the environment she was raised in. This also further sends a message to the readers that there is always more to life and even though they may not have had the most ideal childhood, they are still able to make a difference in their own lives - never give up.

Ultimately, Tillie Olsen’s message in the story “I Stand Here Ironing” is to never let one’s past define their future. The way she gets this message across is by telling the story from Emily's mother's point of view, a slight tone shift from remorseful to moderately hopeful for her daughter, and lastly by symbolizing an iron to portray the difficulties that may occupy one's life from improving. The mothers’ guilt is also shown through those literary elements which allow for a deeper connection between the author and the audience. Olsen’s way of conveying this message to her audience was done extremely well with the combination of all her literary devices, all in all, providing a full grasp for the readers about the emotions the mother felt.