No human bond is more profound than one between a mother and her child. However, when such a bond is formed under the intense pressure of the outside environment, it becomes one engrained with imperfection. Out of the shadows of socioeconomic adversity come dark tales of strained familial relationships. Finally brought to light, these short stories are alarmingly eye-opening to every degree of audience. Tillie Olsen’s, “I Stand Here Ironing” and Flannery O’Connor’s, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” are both phenomenally written pieces set during trying times that divulge the true battle that is motherhood, and clearly exhibit the fact that strenuous circumstances breed parental regression. Tillie Olsen is an author who most often writes …show more content…
As reflective of reality, not all stories have a triumphant moment of resolve, and by showing this harsh outcome the author stays true to the purpose of the story rather than sugar coat the truth. A good summation of the case in point can be found in “A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Mother-daughter Relationship in ‘I Stand Here Ironing’” by Zhongming Bao and Minden Wei. Here, it is revealed that due to economic deficiency, “In the turmoil of the Great Depression, the young mother regrettably fails to pay enough emotional attention to her daughter Emily who is at the exact age of craving love from mother. Both of them consciously or unconsciously employ defense mechanisms to protect their injured ego” (344). Similarly, author Flannery O’Connor wrote a structurally comparable story about the mother-child struggle through a work called, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”. O’Connor was born in the deep south of Georgia during the mid 1920’s, making her a child of the civil rights movement. Presently, she is considered one of the greatest short story writers of the 20th century for her unfiltered coverage of growing up during this impasse. For the greater part of her writing career much like Tillie Olsen, her stories were mostly inspired by her own experiences influenced by grueling time of the civil rights …show more content…
From the start, a clear divide between the two is apparent as the son, Julian, is seen from every angle as burdened by his mother. Because she put him through college, he feels obligated to tend to her every need and this monotonous cycle of taking her to a reducing class has Julian “saturated in depression” (O’Connor, 1) as he struggles to get himself on his feet economically. Truly, the bus rides are where most of the plot is centered as it is a symbol of much controversy during the time of desegregation. According to Julian’s mother, the African Americans were, “better off when they were [slaves]... Its ridiculous. It’s simply not realistic. They should rise, yes, but on their own side of the fence” (O’Connor, 2). Clearly, she still believes in a separation of race and every time she brings it up in conversation, Julian ushers her to “just skip it” (O’Connor, 2). To this, a rebellious figure arises as Julian purposely makes a point to sit by African Americans on the bus to his mother’s class because that is the very reason why she refuses to take it by herself. In one instance, a well dressed black man enters the bus and while others on the bus scurry away, Julian moves closer with the goal of teaching his own mother a
Julian's discription of his relationship with his mother, in his mind, was he viewed himself as the savior that must teach her a lesson about her outdated veiwpoints. He feels as though he needs to treat her like a "little girl" because of her ignorance of the changing times. It seems that the new generation always seems to know more about "everything" than the one before. Meaning, the old generations are not nessasarily ignorant to the changes, but they might not know any better becuse of the way they were brought up. "They (blacks) don't give a damn for your graciousness", Julian explains to his mother. The condescension of "enlightened" whites towards blacks and the resentment of blacks towards well-meaning whites will never change because "knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now ...
The essay "A New Perspective" by Janice E. Fein and the short story "All the Years of Her Life" by Morley Callaghan have some similarities and differences with mother and child relationships. Both authors show a shift of attitude in the end of the written pieces.
Are all mothers fit for motherhood? The concept of motherhood is scrutinized in the stories “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “Tears Idle Tears”. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence the mother, Hester, unpremeditatedly provokes her son into providing for her through gambling. In the story “Tears Idle Tears” by Elizabeth Bowen, Mrs. Dickinson disregards her son’s emotions and puts more emphasis in her appearance than her son’s wellbeing. Hester and Mrs. Dickinson both were inadequate mothers. Both the mothers were materialistic, pretended to love their offspring, and their dominance hindered their children’s progress in life.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in her mother's family home in Milledgeville, Georgia, she was the only child of Regina Cline and Edward Francis O'Connor, Jr. Although little is known about Mrs. O'Connor's early childhood, in Melissa Simpson's biography on O'Connor, Simpson states that O'Connor attended St. Vincent's Grammar School in Savannah where she would rarely play with the other children and spent most her time reading by herself. After fifth, grade, O'Connor transferred; to Sacred Heart Grammar School for Girls; some say the reason for the transfer was that it was a more prestigious school than the former. She later enrolled in Peabody High School in 1938, entered an accelerated program at Georgia State Collge for Women in the summer of 1942, and in 1946 she was accepted into the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa (4 Simpson). According to American Decades, O'Connor earned her masters degree from the University of Iowa with six short-stories that were published in the periodical Accent (n pg Baughman).
During the bus trip, Julian's mother openly sympathises with some other white women who don't like "Negroes" on the bus. When a Black man gets on the bus, Julian attempts to be friendly with him and in so doing sees himself as morally superior to his mother. We see here that Julian is being very judgmental. For instance, we find Julian entertaining these thoughts after the man has got off the bus:
The central theme of Flannery O’Connor’s three short stories is irony. Her stories are parables, that is, short stories with a lesson to be learned.
Thus, O’Connor grew up in a highly racist area that mourned the fact that slaves were now being treated as “equals.” In her everyday life in Georgia, O’Connor encountered countless citizens who were not shy in expressing their discontent toward the black race. This indeed was a guiding influence and inspiration in her fiction writing. The other guiding influence in her life that became a major theme in her writing was religion. Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a Catholic family.
In the short story "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen, the reader is introduced to a mother living in the midst of the Great Depression dealing with angst and anxiety towards her daughter Emily. Because this story looks back during the Great Depression when Emily was born the mother's trauma is coming between the both of them. The mother wants her daughter to live a beautiful life, however, poverty, depression and dislocation has built a wall between the two women.
Flannery O’Connor lived most of her life in the southern state of Georgia. When once asked what the most influential things in her life were, she responded “Being a Catholic and a Southerner and a writer.” (1) She uses her knowledge of southern religion and popular beliefs to her advantage throughout the story. Not only does she thoroughly depict the southern dialect, she uses it more convincingly than other authors have previously attempted such as Charles Dickens and Zora Neale Hurston. In other works, the authors frequently use colloquialism so “local” that a reader not familiar with those slang terms, as well as accents, may have difficulty understanding or grasping the meaning of the particular passage. O’Connor not only depicts a genuine southern accent, she allows the characters to maintain some aspect of intelligence, which allows the audience to focus on the meaning of the passage, rather than the overbearing burden of interpreting a rather “foreign language.”
What exactly constitutes a perfect family? Eternal love of parents and siblings? The short stories, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen reveal the intricate relationship between the mother and the daughter. In “Everyday Use”, Walker initiates the story with the narrator waiting for her daughter Dee’s visit. When Dee arrives, she tells her mother that she changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo and insists of taking the quilt. The narrator refuses to let Dee take the quilt because the quilt belong to her other daughter, Maggie. In Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing”, the narrator is having a conversation with the teacher of her daughter Emily. As the narrator is ironing, she thinks back over her
Although, a mother’s determination in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” mother face with an intense internal conflict involving her oldest daughter Emily. As a single mother struggle, narrator need to work long hours every day in order to support her family. Despite these criticisms, narrator leaves Emily frequently in daycare close to her neighbor, where Emily missing the lack of a family support and loves. According to the neighbor states, “You should smile at Emily more when you look at her” (Olsen 225). On the other hand, neighbor gives the reader a sense that the narrator didn’t show much affection toward Emily as a child. The narrator even comments, “I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 225). At the same time, narrator expresses her feeling that she love her daughter. Until, she was not be able to give Emily as much care as she desire and that gives her a sense of guilt, because she ends up remarrying again. Meanwhile narrator having another child named Susan, and life gets more compli...
...ition, she presents the reader with the differing generations of the old and new south, and she illustrates the contrasting views between the two. O’Connor is not afraid to question Christian theology or the Southern culture. Her irony and satire add depth to ther stories, and her deep cultural analysis of the South brings a higher level to her writings. O’Connor also explores the concept of fallen human nature and how it is brought about. Overall, O’Connor’s works prove to be very in depth in both her social and cultural analysis of the South. She is not afraid to critique the society in which she grew up and lived.
This story takes place in the south during the civil rights movement when people were trying to eliminate poverty and racism from the society that they lived in. There are four important characters in this story, and the two main ones are Julian and his mother. Julian is a recent college graduate who lives with his mother but knows “some day [he’ll] start making money” (Mays 448). Julian sees the world as ever changing during the civil rights movement and does not like or condone racism. Although this is true he subconsciously is small minded and petty just like his mother. His mother often makes racist remarks and will not find herself sitting next to a black African American adult. She often would bring up the topic of race to Julian “every few days like a train on an open track” (Mays 449). She also makes her son ride the bus with her to the YMCA because of the new changes due to the civil rights movement and in some ways this makes Julian mad. As they begin to board the bus Julian and his mother argue but quickly board. Shortly later a black woman and her son named Carver board. Carver sits next to Julian’s mother, she does not mind, and Carver’s mother sits next to Julian. Carver’s mother is an impatient woman who ironically wears the same hat as Julian’s mother. The hat in many ways is a symbol of the ever changing south during the civil rights movement. It symbolizes the social equality between
To the uninitiated, the writing of Flannery O'Connor can seem at once cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character's emotional devastation. Working his way through "Greenleaf," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," or "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the new reader feels an existential hollowness reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger; O'Connor's imagination appears a barren, godless plane of meaninglessness, punctuated by pockets of random, mindless cruelty.
Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.