Having Emily at an early age shows how the mother was unprepared for motherhood. She says in the beginning of the short story, "You think just because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key?" (Frye 2930). She knows that her own knowledge of mother hood is very limited. As one author wrote, "Emily was the first child of the mother, who was only nineteen at the time she was born" (Gawthorp 1091). Nineteen years of age does not allow a woman enough time to set her priorities, much less be a mother. The father left the mother shortly after

Many hardships made the mother push Emily's wants aside and the best way she could. Olsen writes, "What matters to me is the kind of soil out of which people have to grow, and the climate around them" (Kamel 193), which is symbolic to Emily's mother's climate in which to grow out of. Since the father left the mother, she had to find a job. During the depression and prewar times, finding a job is difficult, if a job can be found. After a while, she finds a "job hashing at night so she could be with Emily during the day" (Olsen 3). Emily's mother has five children, without a father being there to support the children, the mother has to earn money to keep her kids fed and clothed. More time is spent at work than with Emily, which makes the mother-child bond more difficult to attain.

Emily's mother contemplates and recollects as she irons. In the ending, she is ironing and realizes the Emily is unlike the clothing she is pressing: "Emily is an i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Emily Throughout, Tillie Olsen, Stand Ironing, emily's mother, stanford 94, emily born, father left mother, father left, left mother, stand ironing, emily's childhood, night emily,
Approximate Word count = 645
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)