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As i stand here ironing analysis
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The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Stand Here Ironing To many people, the ideal mother-daughter relationship is not like the one we find in this short story. In this case, however, its not being an ideal relationship is not the fault of the mother or daughter. Through her own relative thoughts, the mother illustrates the circumstances of the relationship that evolved with her daughter. Despite the mother's self incriminating thoughts, the dents in the mold of their mother-daughter relationship were made by the tough circumstances in their lives. From the beginning we hear the mother's self inculpating thoughts of all she "did or did not do." Emily is born into an unfortunate surrounding and, at the early age of eight months, her mother must leave her in the care of a woman whom Emily doesn't favor. The mother blames herself for her daughter's unhappiness and yet unknowingly justifies her actions with the immense love that she has for her. She recognizes that she was not able to be with her daughter at a time when young children want to cling to their mo...
In their articles, Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan establish a profound ethos by utilizing examples of the effects their mother-daughter/mother-son relationships have had on their language and writing. Lee’s "Mute in an English-Only World" illustrates his maturity as a writer due to his mother’s influence on growth in respect. Tan, in "Mother Tongue," explains how her mother changed her writing by first changing her conception of language. In any situation, the ethos a writer brings to an argument is crucial to the success in connecting with the audience; naturally a writer wants to present himself/herself as reliable and credible (Lunsford 308). Lee and Tan, both of stereotypical immigrant background, use their memories of deceased mothers to build credibility in their respective articles.
The domineering attitude of Emily's father keeps her to himself, inside the house, and alone until his death. In his own way, Emily's father shows her how to love. Through a forced obligation to love only him, as he drives off young male callers, he teaches his daughter lessons of love. It is this dysfunctional love that resurfaces later, because it is the only way Emily knows how to love.
life and looked for a way to gain her freedom. Emily must endure her fathers
Because the mother is living in a world of depression a dark wall has wrapped itself around her. Worrying solemnly about the life of her daughter, the mother is neglecting to appreciate the positive attributes her daughter is presenting. Emily is a gifted comedian, "Where does it come from, that comedy?" (p.159) being a comedian during the Great Depression is almost as rare as finding water during an extensive drought. If the mother wasn't as depressed she would be able to appreciate the comedy that Emily is passionate for. The mother's character is left in a state of helplessness reaching out beyond depression to view the comedian inside her daughter.
Throughout the novel, The Joy Luck Club, author Amy Tan explores the issues of tradition and change and the impact they have on the bond between mothers and daughters. The theme is developed through eight women that tell their separate stories, which meld into four pairs of mother-daughter relationships.
When experiencing regret, a person has the tendency to repeatedly replay the details of whatever caused that emotion. However, recounting past events is only the first step in the healing process, but it is not the end solution. This is abundantly evident in Olsen’s story which begins with the narrator’s rapid emotional descent into regret. This happens when, as she has probably done a thousand times before, an unnamed third party questions the mother about her eldest daughter, Emily, asking how they can “help” and “understand her” better (Olsen 607), for surely she would know. Unfortunately, the answer to this request sends the mother helplessly down memory lane into regret valley. With Olsen’s strong symbolism, the reader becomes more keenly aware of the inner “torment” she feels while reminiscing about her callow method of raising Emily. Consequently, as the mother “moves… back and forth” emotionally, ...
Did you realize that in many family, there is always one child who is so different from the other children? They are not only different from appearance, but also different from many aspects. In Alice Walker's "Everyday use", Walker tells us about her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, are raised by the same parent under the same environment, but turned out as two totally different persons due to many reasons.
In the commentary article written by Jack Coulehan, the quote “the girl is a natural performer, a wonderful comedienne, who now is in demand throughout the city and state” this quote shows that other people besides Emily’s mother can see that she has a wondrous talent. Later in the story the mother finalizes understands that she expected to much from Emily, because she had Emily so young she sent her away to figure things out for herself. The mother says “I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother…my wisdom came too late.” Because Emily never showed love to her mother or other siblings, her mother only saw the disconnection, but really she was missing that Emily was scared to love the person that sent her away. As the iron, the mother wants to fix the wrinkled spots of the dress, which is a symbol for Emily. To Emily the wrinkles don’t change who she is, Emily loves to preform, and views herself as the same person no matter what circumstances she goes through, such as the experiences she had in her childhood. The mother comes to the realization at the end of the story of why her daughter doesn’t show affection, when the old man living in the back said “you should smile at Emily more” because she had not shown Emily attention or love when she was younger Emily never expected or understood the unconditional love of a mother to a daughter. In the short story Sonny’s Blues, the narrator and Sonny grew up close, as normal brothers do, but as the narrator reads the newspaper he gets some unsettling news about Sonny. Sonny’s use of drugs and criminal
"I Stand Here Ironing", by Tillie Olsen is a short story portraying the life and regret of a young mother struggling to raise her oldest daughter. The mother- daughter relationship is the major part of the story and the attitude of the mother toward her daughter, Emily, and the actual character of the mother are two very important elements. The character of the mother can be said to be strong and persevering, and along with her age and experience came her wisdom. At first her attitude toward her daughter seemed more of resigned and regretful, but as Emily grew up and became a beautiful and talented young women, the mother knows to let her be and leave her to live her own life. The character of the mother is crucial to the entire story, for it is this that will determine her attitudes toward her daughter. She at first, seemed very naïve and weak in a big scary world, with society constantly nipping at her heels, but, as she lives, she learns to take life as it comes and try her hardest to do her best. Which at that time was no easy thing to do. The strength and love that the mother exhibits constantly keeps the idea of hope with the reader. The character of the mother is a determining factor in her attitude towards her daughter. As her character changed, so did her feelings about Emily. In the beginning of the story, the mother talks of how sorry and regretful she is of her daughter’s childhood. She looks at her unfortunate daughter, Emily, with pi...
No two mother and daughter relationships are alike. After reading “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan I realized that the two stories had the same subject matter: mother and daughter relationships. These two stories show different cultures, generations and parenting methods. Although the two mothers act differently, they are both ultimately motivated by the same desire: to be a good parent. In addition, while researching related articles, I realized that there were two recurring themes of mothers and daughters: respect and diverse ways of parenting.
The characters in the short stories; “Story of an Hour,” “Sweat,” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” felt an overwhelming sense of oppression which lead them to a feeling of desperation to gain their own individual freedom. They took extreme measures to gain more independence by sacrificing their dignity, mental stability and their lives. The concept of being "free" in the sense of not being bound by a one’s husband is a repeated theme in these stories. The female characters loved and adored their husbands but were torn between satisfying their own individual aspirations and their husband's expectations.The women portrayed in these short stories are all torn between striving to appease the societal expectations of being a traditional wife and
The rifts between mothers and daughters continue to separate them, but as the daughters get older they become more tolerant of their mothers. They learn they do not know everything about their mothers, and the courage their mothers showed during their lives is astounding. As they get older they learn they do not know everything, and that their mothers can still teach them much about life. They grow closer to their mothers and learn to be proud of their heritage and their culture. They acquire the wisdom of understanding, and that is the finest feeling to have in the world.
The authors of the four stories have themes in common. One theme they all have in common is love. Would the authors be able to sit down in a room and have a talk? There are common themes, but some are deeper than others.
The novel so far really reminds me of a book I read called “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. They both take place in Afghanistan during the time of the Taliban. A significant similarity is the mother-daughter relationship Fereiba had with her stepmother and Mariam from ATSS had with her mother. KokoGul treated Fereiba as if she wasn’t her daughter right from the beginning, more like a maid than anything else. From a very young age, Fereiba has had to cook and clean for everyone in the family. She always isolates Fereiba and compares her to her own daughters. She reminds her that she is not her own right when Fereiba starts to feel like they have a relationship “...everyone knows that you lost your mother. And that makes you different.”
Growing up Emily’s father, Mr. Gierson, made her stay in the house and not socialize with others. He taught her that he was only trying to protect her from the outside world. Mr.Gierson was a rude man who felt that things should go his way; therefore, his daughter hopelessly fell for him because she did not know any oth...