I stand here ironing hits the point right.This is a story about a single mother who does not have the money to pay for laundry services,a lady who is looking after a large family because she is ironing constantly.At the end of the story,Emily asks a question whether her mother will ever stop ironing.The question that the unknown person poses to the narrator move back and forth with the iron. A closer look at the narrator's life provided by the flashbacks,suggests that her life has been a continuous stream of poverty and responsibilities that distract her from giving Emily her full attention and care.Throughout the story,rare moments of insight or emotional intensity will interrupt the steady movement of the ironing.
It would appear therefore that ironing stands for all the material difficulties-poverty,singlemotherhood,illness-that make the narrator a distracted mother.Emily's question to her mother,then,is whether she will ever pay attention to her.
If we look at the ending of the story,it is clear that the mother takes interest/pays attention to her daughter."Let her be ",the unknown ,the unknown person tells her.The narrator herself admits."Only help her to know,make it so there is cause for her to know-that she is more than this dress on the ironing board,helpless before the iron.
Significantly,the story opens with Emily's teacher asking for a talk with her mother.The rest of the story reflects on the thoughts of the narrator moving back and forth like the iron.She reflects o Emily's life which has been full of ups and downs:attacks by illness,having few friends,trouble keeping up in her classes,often being forced to stay at home ,having a sour relationship with her sister Susan.There are moments of brightness and hope,but there are also moments of pain and gloom.
This is a deeply personalized story,shaped by the narrator's (mother's) mind as she keeps moving continuously from one problem to another. is a feminine and personal experience which bonds all those involved in the exercise.It is a story that focuses on the everyday life of the working classes.For example we know that there is a strong relationship between the narrator (mother) and Emily(daughter).The back and forth movement of the iron box symbolize the thoughts of the narrator that go back and forth.This reflects her life.The story begins in the present and then moves to the past back to the present.She recalls the painful experiences and tries to piece up together how certain events and circumstances shaped Emily's life.This is a story about decisions which she had to make in life which have in turn hurt Emily,again forced by unavoidable circumstances like the great depression,the desertion of her husband,her marriage,her having to look for work to sustain the family and she felt helpless before the iron like the dress on the ironing board.
marto answered the question on September 25, 2017 at 04:49
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