the The Life of a Distant Child

The shorts story “I Stand Here Ironing,” by Tillie Olsen, looks at the themes of women and femininity through a mother-daughter relationship. The story also gives us a chance to see the challenges faced by her daughter, who grew up in a society that valued Shirley Temple and adolescent femininity. Although the mother-daughter relationship was not a normal one around that time, it still revealed a strong bond; their love for each other is palpable as they share their struggles. The story reveals narrative techniques of man vs. society, man vs. self, and also man vs. man.

Housekeeping and raising a family were considered ideal female roles during the 1950s. The story took place during the time of the great depression. The mother in the story had take on a role of providing for her family, due to the fact of them being a working class family with no male figure in the household. Their relationship was distant and apart. The quote “I wish you would manage the time to come in and talk with me about your daughter,” made by the teacher showed how the mother never had time to put in the effort to worry about what was going on with her daughter.

You never really pay attention to what’s going on in a situation until you sit back and think hard about it. After the mother got settled and was able pay attention to how distant her and her daughter’s relationship was, she was unhappy about it. She was angry that she had no other choice but to send Emily away to family members and day cares. After being remarried and in a better situation, she was able to pay the other four children that she had after Emily, much more attention. “It was the face of joy, and not of care or tightness or worry I turned to them- too late for Emily.”