Stand Here Ironing

Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” story illustrates that the task of bringing up children is communal; various players other than a child’s parents make contributions. To this end, when Emily contracts measles, she is briefly admitted at a charity-funded home. Further, while the mother is looking for employment, Emily remains under the care of some unidentified neighbors.Moreover, when the mother is out working, Emily remains under the care of her (Emily’s) father’s relatives. This essay analyses “I Stand Here Ironing” to show that the task of bringing up children is communal based on the following concepts: after contracting measles, Emily spends some time at a charity-funded home; Emily remains under the care of some neighbors when the mother goes out looking for work; and when the mother is out working, Emily remains under the care of her (Emily’s) father’s relatives.

Given that, after contracting measles, Emily spends some time at a charity-funded home, “I Stand Here Ironing” demonstrates that the task of bringing up children is communal. In this regard, a particular charity-funded convalescent facility takes Emily in to ensure she recovers from measles. Emily spends several months at this charity-funded convalescent facility (Olsen, n.d.). During this period, neither Emily’s mother nor the father contribute to the child’s upkeep. While reviewing this situation, a reader would validly hold that the duty of bringing up children is shared by various members of a community To further illustrate that the duty of bringing up children is communal, Emily remains under the care of some unidentified neighbors when the mother goes out looking for work.

At this time, Emily is less than one year old and is thus a toddler (Ibid.). Here, these unidentified neighbors take part in bringing Emily up. A reader would reasonably hold that these neighbors feed, clothe, and bathe Emily. Considering that toddlers are prone to frequent crying, especially when the mother is not around, these neighbors also evidently devise suitable ways of calming Emily. A reader would also reasonably hold that these neighbors are not related to Emily by blood. Nevertheless, these neighbors take care of Emily. Thanks to the care that the neighbors provide to Emily, “I Stand Here Ironing” demonstrates that the task of bringing up children is communal.

Moreover, when the mother is out working, Emily remains under the care of her (Emily’s) father’s relatives (Ibid.), thus illustrating that the task of bringing up children is communal. To this end, Emily’s mother evidently brings Emily to the father’s relatives. While appraising this scenario, a reader would validly surmise that the home of these relatives is significantly far from the home of Emily’s mother. This is because it is unlikely for a woman to get married to a man from the same locality as her. Given this analysis, it is clear that these relatives are different from Emily’s mother in the social sense. For instance, the values of these relatives could be different from those of Emily’s mother. Despite these differences, these relatives accept and take care of Emily when the mother is working. This scenario would cause a reader to validly hold that these relatives are aware that the duty of bringing up children is a shared by different members of a community.

In conclusion, “I Stand Here Ironing” demonstrates that the task of bringing up children is communal. For instance, after contracting measles, Emily spends some time at a charity funded home. In addition, Emily remains under the care of some neighbors when the mother
goes out looking for work. Further, when the mother is out working, Emily remains under the care of her (Emily’s) father’s relatives. It would be prudent to investigate why Olsen focuses on the theme of communal cooperation.