Traditional Motherhood In Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing

The narrator felt as if she disappointed her mother many times with the way she choose to live her life. To the narrator, a good life was not being talented or following what her mother asked her to do. The narrator believed that a good life was doing what she independently wanted to do without having to follow the expectations of her mother. Both the narrator of “Two Kinds” and Laura had to strongly go against the beliefs and ideas of their mothers, although because they were so young and had little power in their family, both Laura and the narrator had to follow what they were told. Although both Laura and the narrator shared an alternating belief system, they didn’t share a similar social status with each

Mother Daughter Relationship in I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen If Only.... Almost every parent dreams of giving their children what they never had growing up. However, unavoidable situations cannot be changed and we are forced to make do with what life gives us. Life’s twists and turns are not always predicted, we get caught up with other things and lose sight of the important ones. In the story, “I Stand Here Ironing,” Tillie Olsen portrays the life and regret of a young single mother struggling to raise her daughter Emily.

Although Rose believes that she has "no hope," inside she has a nengkan as powerful as her mothers, which makes her wish her marriage would last, just as her mother wishes Bing would still be alive. Overall, each mother in The Joy Luck Club went through something emotionally exhausting and saddening in her life. The mothers use their experiences to try to direct the course of their daughters' lives, to make them simpler and more carefree. Initially, however, the daughters only see that their mothers want to make decisions for them, not to help them. Ultimately, the daughters realize their mothers' intentions, but not all accept them.

However some women are unable to have strong relationships with their mothers, this can be seen in then novel The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. Unfortunately Jiang Weili wasn't able to have a powerful relationship with her mother. Because of her mothers absence Jiang Weili wasn't able to find her own identity and isn't able to have a productive relationship with her daughter. Pearl feels alienated from her mother however, Jiang Weili only believes she is doing the best for her daughter. Pearl and Winnie prove that the mother daughter relationship is essential for a girl to become a woman.

Ultimately Amanda only cared about herself rather than her children. One of Amanda’s strongest characteristics is being domineering. She focuses mainly on their defaults and errors rather than focusing on how to be supportive and properly guide them as a mother. Any achievement her children would accomplish Laura wouldn’t recognize how skilled and their positive traits they can overcome. Amanda was being pessimistic about Laura’s future when Laura dropped business school and planned her future without hesitating to ask her but instantly assumed she was going to end up being an old maid.

The turning point in the mother/daughter relationship came at the end of the story, when Mother realized all of the horrible things her daughter was doing; not even necessarily doing intentionally. She thought that perhaps her daughter would change her un-appreciativeness, and respect her pride for her way of life and her valued items around her, but she had to decide between one daughter and the other. The one who would display the quilts and household items as pieces to be viewed and admired as a way of the old life, or to the other daughter who would use them in the way they were meant to be used.

She is often considered the model of female oppression and empowerment in the late 1800s, but her “awakening” actually results from her experiences in a cold and distant family. Edna’s suppressive childhood leads to her desire for independence in adulthood and helps her come to the realization that mothers play an important role in their children’s lives. Misinterpreted as hidden desires, Edna’s emotions towards love and freedom stem from the lack of familial love. Her father’s flippant thoughts towards her are shown when he tells Leonce that “authority, coercion are what is needed… [to] manage a wife” [94]. He regards his daughter as just another woman and approaches raising her in the same manner that he treated his wife.

Jing Mei cannot begin to understand what an ideal mother is, because of the complexity of humans. Is a perfect mother someone who is overworked and thus absent or someone overbearing and a perfectionist or easily persuaded and thus unfair? In the stories: Two Kinds by Amy Tan, I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen, and Everyday Use by Alice Walker, the notion of reconciliation between mothers and daughters is explored. Forgiveness made through both daughters and mothers being able to understand and accept the reasoning behind a mother’s actions, which, as young girls, the daughters unfortunately misunderstood. In the story Two Kinds by Amy Tan, Jing Mei’s mother’s obsession with making Jing Mei a prodigy is the cause of destruction in their relationship but, once Jing Mei begins to understand her mother’s reasoning, the enabler for their reconciliation.

Kincaid was disapproved of by her family when she became a writer, much like the daughter in Girl would be. Kincaid uses the mother’s instructions on sweeping, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and gardening to express the domesticity that is expected from the daughter to turn her into the

She clearly says that "Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter" (Tan 497). Amy Tan shows that Ni kan resents her mother's decisions and resists her control. After many failed tests in knowledge and skills, Ni kan asserts to herself, "I won't let her change me. .