I Stand Here Ironing

A detailed Summary of I Stand Here Ironing


"I Stand Here Ironing" refers to events that took place in the 1930s in America during the Great Depression, a time of social, political and economical instability. The author is using first person point of view and first person narrator who plays the role of a minor character, a mother that tells a story about her daughter. The story begins with a dialogue over the telephone between the narrator and her daughter's psychologist or maybe future husband, or a teacher, a person that is "deeply" interested in understanding Emily in order to "help" her. The person calls Emily's mother hopping that she has "a key" or she can be used as a key to understand and solve Emily's problems. Although, the narrator is engaged in a telephone conversation the story becomes a monologue because she never gets interrupted through the story.

The title "I Stand Here Ironing" is also a leitmotiv and emphasizes a major idea of the story: the reason for Emily's actual problems or at least her mother's explanation for not according her child enough attention because she is always busy "ironing"; it also suggests Emily's vulnerability and the narrator attitud


According to her mother Emily "is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear" but there are clues in the story that lead us to different conclusions; Emily was never like other kids of her age. She had asthma and was "thin and dark and foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look a chubby blonde replica of Shirley Temple". In school she was a "slow learner" always unprepared "stammering and unsure in her classes" because she was helping her mother at home "be a mother, and housekeeper, and shopper". Emily was a child, which accepted the situation without "direct protest" or "rebellion". She kind of understood that her mother had no choice but to leave her with different people so she could work.

e towards her daughter in the extended metaphor used by the author at the end of the story " she is more then this dress on the ironing board".

Although, Emily was a hurt and introverted child that "kept too much in herself" she has always found the strength to deal with tough situation; when her mother was away she invented a word "shoogily" to comfort herself. She was able to m

Some common words found in the essay are:
Stand Ironing, America Depression, Shirley Temple, america depression, dress ironing board, dress ironing, emily's mother, ironing board, emily child, stand ironing,

Approximate Word count = 768
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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