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I Stand Here Ironing Summary
Tillie Olsen

Everything you need to understand or teach I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen.

I Stand Here Ironing Summary & Study Guide
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I Stand Here Ironing Summary

Tillie Olsen's story "I Stand Here Ironing" recounts a poor working woman's ambivalence about her parenting skills and her eldest daughter's future. Published in Olsen's first collection of stories, Tell Me a Riddle, in 1961, this first-person story contains many autobiographical elements. Central to the plot is the metaphor of a mother ironing her daughter's dress as she mentally attempts to "iron" out her uneasy relationship with her daughter through a stream-of-consciousness monologue. The...

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The I Stand Here Ironing Study Pack contains:

I Stand Here Ironing Study Guide

Overview

Characters

Setting

Social Concerns

Social Sensitivity

Techniques

Thematic Overview

Themes

Style

Criticism

Topics for Further Study

Compare and Contrast

What Do I Read Next?

Topics for Discussion

Ideas for Reports and Papers

Literary Precedents

Further Study

Bibliography

Tillie Olsen Biographies (5)

Tillie Olsen

1,700 words, approx. 6 pages

Tillie Olsen (born 1913) is widely regarded as one of the most important women writers in America. Although her reputation was built on a relatively small body of work, she is recognized for her skill... Read more

Tillie Olsen

2,177 words, approx. 8 pages

Tillie Olsen writes about people who, because of their class, sex, or race, have been denied the opportunity to express and develop themselves. In a strongly emotional style, she tells of their dreams... Read more

Tillie Olsen

5,026 words, approx. 17 pages

Tillie Olsen, feminist and working-class writer,grew up in Wyoming and Nebraska, areas which have not often been the childhood homes of America's Jewish authors. This might explain why, despite the fa... Read more

Tillie Olsen

4,689 words, approx. 16 pages

Long recognized as a feminist and a working-class writer, and more recently as a Jewish writer, Tillie Olsen has rarely been considered a writer of the American West. This may be because she deals wit... Read more

Tillie Olsen

5,197 words, approx. 18 pages

Biography EssayTillie Olsen is a feminist and working-class author who began writing in the 1930s. Robert Coles commented in The Nation, "Everything Tillie Olsen has written has become almost immedi... Read more

Essays & Analysis (2)

I Stand Here Ironing

470 words, approx. 2 pages

"I Stand here Ironing" In this story the mother is reflecting back on her life. She believes that she has made mistakes in the past that hindered her daughters' childhood. She feels that if sh... Read more

I Stand Here Ironing

1,736 words, approx. 6 pages

Tillie Olsen writes the story "I Stand Here Ironing" in a narrative format. She reveals her life's story and relationships with her children, especially her first born child, Emily, as if she was r... Read more

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I Stand Here Ironing SummaryTillie Olsen

I Stand Here Ironing Summary

Study Pack

I Stand Here Ironing Study Guide

Tillie Olsen Biographies (5)

Essays & Analysis (2)

I Stand Here Ironing Summary
Tillie Olsen