Part one of term paper
In Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing," the narrator seeks, through language and memory, to construct her past, to make meaning from and come to terms with her life in an effort to "total it all", and to gain a better understanding of her actions as a mother. While the mother is standing in front of an ironing board ironing, she sifts thr ...

Part two of term paper
... and thus does not understand the needs of a newborn child. Although the narrator does her best in bringing up Emily, she lacks good technique in the early part of her parenthood when parent child interaction mean the most. When Olsen writes "Though her cries battered me to trembling and my breasts ached with swolleness, I waited to the clock decreed," she shows the lack of knowledge the mother had in caring for a newborn because she ignores her maternal instincts and instead chooses to go by the ...