Her husband left early on in Emily’s life and her mother was forced to leave her with friends or send her to day care. “…and I did not know then what I know now- the fatigue of the long day, and the lacerations of group life in the kinds of nurseries that are only parking places for children” (Olsen 707). Emily got nowhere near the amount of attention she needed. Maggie, on the other hand, was always with her mother. Maggie’s mother was also older and better suited to be a mother because she was older and more experienced however, Maggie’s father also left the family.
Henrik Ibsen depicts how the conscious and subconscious motives and desires are obtained. Kristine Linde is a woman who has had to give up her dreams due to circumstances beyond her control. She was once in love but because her mother “was bedridden and helpless”and she “had to provide for two younger brothers”(Ibsen, 2011, p. 556) she was forced to marry for convenience of the situation. We can tell this has made her look at life in a more realistic and wise view than that of her friend Mrs Nora Helmer the main character. Mrs Linde has had to work hard and was not afforded love and children which she longed to have.
Annie feels as though her mother is not trust worthy: “ Why, I wonder, didn’t I see the hypocrite in my mother when, over the years, she said that she loved me and could hardly live with out me, while at the same time proposing and arranging separation after separation, including this one. […](Kincaid 89) Annie thinks her mother wants her completely gone from her life. She does not trust that her mother truly loves her and will miss her. She believes that since her mother is the one who set up this separation, she is not as truthful and loving as Annie once believed. Similarly, Lairds sister also felt her mother was not trustworthy: “ My mother I felt was not to be trusted.”(Munro 50) Lairds sister was unwillingly forced by her mother, to stay in the house all day and fill countless jars with various fruits, instead of being outside in the fields with her father doing the work she loved.
The tone that she uses in her piece seems to be sarcasm and this sarcasm is what leads me to the assumptions I make and the way I read her essay. She obviously wants to go to school and become economically independent and be able to support herself. I think that she is not happy with her current situation of being a mom and a wife and feels unappreciated. She stays home and does all the things she lists for her husband, but she resents this role in society that she is in. I assume that she wants a divorce from her husband but because of the role that society has placed on her, but she is unable to get one because she is very dependent on him.
Even though the narrator admits to partial responsibility for her part in Emily’s unhappy childhood, at the same time she excuses herself of full responsibility because of environmental and social circumstances. She looks at her daughter's future, fearful that it will be a desolate, miserable existence resulting from a childhood where there was not sufficient money or time for emotional nourishment. Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” introduces a mother-daughter relationship where the mother faces internal conflict regarding her daughter Emily as she narrates her neglect for her daughter, the lack of love the child experiences during her life, and ability to discover comedy during tragic situations, and the cruelty of being a dark little girl in a world that appreciates beauty. Several times throughout Emily’s life she experiences separation from those she cares about. The narrator confesses how she was absent from her daughter’s life during most of Emily’s development.
Lucy loved her mom but her mom constantly neglected her when her brother came to their life. Lucy is thought to be a bitter character because she was unable to love anyone, she didn't want to love anyone like she loved her mother which rejected and left
The story states “ I was getting along find with Mama, Papa- Daddy, and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again.” Stella-Rondo has come home with a child who she claims is adopted. When Sister realizes the child is not really adopted she tries to convince the rest of her family. Mom and Papa-Daddy refuse to believe that Stella-Rondo would have gotten pregnant before she was married. During a character analysis of selfishness and generosity Laura Lukes stated “Sister is a very selfish person. In the story you almost feel bad for her because her parents really do not take her side, but then find out she is a huge drama queen.
Income has always been a concern for families and losing one income can be devastating to a family, and on the other hand there is the single mother that really does not have a choice, but to go to work and support her child. The loss of income could mean that the family cannot meet their basic needs such as housing, food, clothing and additional worries of saving for the future such as college expenses and retirement. Families might also have concerns about future employment if mom decides to leave the current workforce. The work force seems to be constantly changing; consequently, making future employment harder to come by when mom is ready or a need arises to return to work. Some would argue that the cost of child care is too great and the income generated by the working mom is not worth the cost or the time lost with the child.
Every time the child does something wrong, the mother feels the heartache. It doesn’t matter what the child has done because even if it was just a small matter, the mother would have felt the pain first because she cares and love for her daughter. She loves her daughter with all her heart and wants her daughter to have the best in everything, the kind heart of a mother is fragile. ‘hostage to fortune’, hostage is someone who’s kidnapped and fortune signifies money. This meant that that the idea of having a child is not at all the time pleasant.
It was a big challenge for her as an individual trapped in an isolated from for lunatics. It was also a big adversity as a mother for her to bear the pain of the absence of her child. As an adult it was punishment because she was given directions and told what to do and what not to do like she was a child under the supervision of a parent. All the means of treatment prescribed to the narrator as to help her recover worsened her state of mind. Eventually, she could not hold back anymore, she was ready to break free and escape.