Essay Database

“Helpless Before the Iron” The short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olson, can be interpreted in a variety of different ways, depending upon how the story is analyzed, and which perspective is being taken. This story has many turns and angles which can be explored. To find a true meaning in this story is almost unprecedented, and it is a very confrontational form of literature. From a psychological perspective, this story was based …

…the woman - if the man leaves, the woman is stuck dealing with all of the “wrinkles,” because that is what she is supposed to do. The narrator is hoping that Emily will not be “helpless,” as she was, and hopes that her daughter will take a stand for women’s rights. Despite her grim childhood, the mother doesn’t want Emily to succumb to society’s definition of women’s roles during that time.