The second inquiry asked us to do some historical and cultural research behind a short story in the Making Literature Matter book. After choosing the story I Stand Here Ironing written by Tillie Olsen, I analyzed the cultural theme of women at that time period and the hardships they went through.
A Mother’s Legacy
The story I Stand Here Ironing written by the feminist author, Tillie Olsen, was published in 1961 and depicts the life and tribulations of a young mother during the 1930s. The main character narrates the story as a woman who had her first child, Emily, at age nineteen and reminisces on her life with her children. All in all it is a sad tale because the pages are filled with more of regrets, rather than good memories. Setting in the 1930s, women at that time had a hard time regarding respect and equality. This is evident in Olsen’s story and obvious to the reader that the time setting adjusts and justifies the viewpoint. Olsen also portrays her own feminist views through her words throughout this piece, which adds a thicker sense of historical support for the women during this time period. The main theme is the hardships of working class women, laying a large role in the narrator’s life and coincides with why her life played out the way it did. I Stand Here Ironing incorporates different aspects of women’s roles at the time period that relate to the theme including jobs, contraception, responsibility and regret. Olsen’s imagery of the young woman’s life is just a smaller picture of the rest of “[her] tales [that] show the shortchanged lives of gifted women from the working poor: unable to at once make a living, make art, and meet the needs of their families” (Comninos, 2010).
“Emily’s father, who could no longer endure” (Olsen 282) being with Emily’s mother, chose to leave them before Emily lived her first year of life. Realizing that life is hard and difficult, Emily’s mother was forced to get a job so that she could support the two of them. However, taking place when it did, “it was the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression.” (Olsen, 282) This meant that with the lack of money she already had, finding a job was necessary but almost impossible. At that time, even though women’s rights were attempting to grow stronger, jobs were still not as available to them as they were to men. With money so tight and being busy with the jobs she could obtain, she had no time to take care of Emily. This was a typical hardship for women because normally the men would be out working and being the breadwinner while the women stayed at home with the children. Although, with Emily’s father out of the picture, this was a difficult bump in the road that Emily’s mother had to make due with. Sending Emily to relatives so that she could work was a painful decision that she regretted later on in life. This proves that due to the Great Depression and the horrible economic status she was living through, her life was made more difficult than it could have been.
It is evident in this short story that regret plays a large role; however, having Emily never seemed to be the problem. Although, the problem that did affect many other women during this time was, in fact, having children. Going back to March 3, 1873, the Comstock Law was approved that stated in section 148 that “no obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion…” (United States Statues, Sect. 148) Therefore, for women who didn’t want to have children at that point in time was barely an option. With contraception basically not an option, it was popular for women to use Lysol Disinfectant between the 1930s-1960s. Thus, being nineteen years old and having to have a child was the only option for Emily’s mother.
Another aspect of women’s hardship in the 1930s was childrearing. Back in the day, mostly men were the ones who were out working, so the women stayed home to parents the children. Although, in Emily’s mothers situation, the father was out of the picture so she was the one who had to go out to work. This was tough for her mother because at the beginning, she brought Emily downstairs to stay with a neighbor while she worked. However, realizing it was a bad environment for Emily, Emily was sent away to live with relatives. The downfall of this was that when Emily returned home a while later, she was no longer the happy child she used to be. Even later in life, Emily’s mother remarried but still had no extra help with parenting Emily because now there was another baby to be cared for. In turn, if Emily’s father stayed in the picture or if she could have afforded to pay for daycare, Emily and her mother’s relationship would have remained strong. Instead, growing up, Emily was forced to grow up and be an adult early on because “there were four smaller ones now… she had to help be a mother, and a housekeeper, and a shopper.” (Olsen, 287)
Lastly, the most prevalent part to Emily’s mother’s difficult role as a mother was regret. Between not being able to support her daughter in the early years and having to work rather than to stay home with Emily was very hard for her. Later on, Emily was later sent to a convalescent home, another thing that Emily’s mother regretted. The feeling of despair and weakness when it came to hold up her responsibilities as a mother was a dark cloud always following her. In addition to that, she admitted to being bad with juggling Susan (Emily’s younger sister) and Emily’s needs, claiming that “[she was] a distracted mother” (Olsen, 287). This was the main upset in her mother’s life, which added to the stress of being a mother during the 1930s.
It is clear through Olsen’s words that she had a strong feminist perspective about the women’s role in the 1930’s. Evidently, women had harder lifestyles back then and it was more difficult for them to have easy roles as mothers. The story, I Stand Here Ironing validates their hardships through means of employment during the Great Depression, 1930’s contraception, parenting and personal regret. Between the strong words in the short story that makes the reader feel compelled to feel sorrow for Emily’ mother, and the deeper understanding that the reader receives after reading and comprehending the importance of the setting, many would agree that Olsen’s “depictions of modern American working-class life are some of the most powerful in American literary history.” (Dawahare, 1998)
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