Much of the power of "I Stand Here Ironing" comes from the way in which the story is told. In a sense, Olsen's story is not a story at all. The events that take place during the duration of the narrative are the narrator's ironing and Emily's entrance. All the other narrative elements are events remembered while a mother irons, trying to piece together the moments that made her daughter the young woman she now is.

Thus, Olsen provides a kind of extended interior monologue. This kind of presentation seems particularly well suited to a story fundamentally about the psychology of motherhood. "I Stand Here Ironing" is remarkable for the way in which it matches its structure to its content, telling the tale of a mother's mental development by simply presenting a moment of that character's cogitation. It also reflects such thought in the physical action it depicts...