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i stand here ironing. I stand here ironing I Stand Here Ironing" lies in
its fusion of motherhood as both metaphor and experience ...
i stand here ironing. ... I especially see this present in "I Stand Here Ironing." This
short story is about a mom who is estranged from her daughter. ...
I Stand Here Ironing. “I Stand ... happy. The character of the mother in “I
Stand Here Ironing” is one that is wise and strong. She ...
I Stand Here Ironing. "I Stand Here ... happy. The character of the mother in
"I Stand Here Ironing" is one that is wise and strong. She is ...
i stand here ironing. "I Stand Here ... happy. The character of the mother in
"I Stand Here Ironing" is one that is wise and strong. She is ...
Submitted by jagwaman97 on March 24, 2008
Category: English
Words: 1377 | Pages: 6
Views: 257
Popularity Rank: 44,158
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I stand here ironing
I Stand Here Ironing" lies in its fusion of motherhood as both metaphor and experience: it shows us motherhood bared, stripped of romantic distortion, and reins fused with the power of genuine metaphorical insight into the problems of selfhood in the modern world. ironing is a metaphor for "the ups and downs, back and forth of pressing pressures to make ends meet and a determination to pass through life's horrors and difficulties by keeping the mind intact and focusing on the beauty and blessings that [lie amidst] the dark times"? So the ironing is like a drug, to keep the mother calm and sedated. The story seems at first to be a simple meditation of a mother reconstructing her daughter's past in an attempt to explain present behavior. In its pretense of silent dialogue in the beginning of the story, a mental occupation to accompany the physical occupation of ironing, it creates the impression of literal transcription of a mother's thought processes in the isolation of performing household tasks: "I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron."
As we read the story we are drawn through a knowledge of the present reality and into participation in the narrative process of reconstructing and visualizing the past. " She is, in other words, setting out to assess her own responsibility, her own failure, and finally her need to reaffirm her own independence as a separate human being who cannot be defined solely through her parental role. As she rethinks the past, she frames her perceptions through such interjections as "I did not know then what I know now" and "What in me demanded that goodness in her?" But throughout, she is assessing the larger pattern of interaction between her own needs and her daughter's needs .
In Emily's concern with her physical appearance we can see, distilled the limitations of a parent's capacity to foster a child's growth in selfhood and...
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