Analysis of "I Stand Here Ironing"

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Analysis of "I Stand Here Ironing" By Tillie Olsen History Tillie Lerner Olsen was born in 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. Her parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants who were forced to leave their country due to political activities. Olsen’s father was a part of the Socialist party. This involvement fueled her desire to become politically active, and for a brief time in her youth, Olsen was a member of the Young Communist League. After graduating high school she was arrested and jailed for attempting to organize a union for packinghouse workers. [ (I Stand Here Ironing/Author Biography) ] Olsen met her husband, Jack, in 1936 in San Francisco. After living together for several years, the couple was wed in 1944 on the eve of Jack’s departure for duty during WWII. [ (Wikipedia) ] Like her father, Olsen was continuously changing jobs due to her involvement in the Communist Party. But even though her life was turbulently busy, she always managed to find time to write. In 1955 Olsen attended a writing class at San Francisco State College. She later wrote, as quoted in the critical essay collection Tell Me a Riddle, "I did not come to our writing class that late September day in 1955 as the others came. I was a quarter of a century older. I had no college. I came from that common, everyday, work, mother, eight-hour-daily job, survival (and yes, activist) world seldom the subject of literature." (Olsen) I Stand Here Ironing appeared in The Best American Short Stories of 1957, and has been anthologized more than 90 times since its publication. Olsen was awarded many awards throughout her writing career for her contributions to literature and activism. She was a powerfully charismatic woman who sought humanity in everyone who was in her presence, and paved a way for the voice of women writers. Tillie Olsen died on January 1, 2007, only two weeks shy of her 95th
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