I Stand Here Ironing
“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen is a fictional piece of literature written in the time of the Great Depression. This is a literary piece that a mother views her past and recognizes the mistakes that she had made and the choices that she felt and knew were wrong. The story seems at first to be a simple meditation of a mother reconstructing her daughter's past in an attempt to explain present behavior. In its pretense of silent dialogue with the school's guidance counselor it creates the impression of literal transcription of a mother's thought processes in the isolation of performing household tasks: "I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron"(Olsen 584). Indeed, this surface level provides the narrative thread for our insights into both Emily and her mother. The mother's first person narrative moves chronologically through a personal past which is gauged and anchored by occasional intrusions of the pre
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Tillie Olsen, tillie olsen, stand ironing, construct image,
Approximate Word count = 649
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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