Feminism in I stand Here Ironing

As result of pressure to fit and meet the expectations, women find themselves in a situation whereby developing romantic feelings was a problem. During this time, a patriarchal society was very prevalent which resulting to a common suffering of women. The author, through this story has demonstrated the aspects of inherent feminism deep rooted in the society and families. The inherent feminism is confined within the society’s constructed women roles. Therefore, the object of this paper is to analyse succinctly female depiction in a society that was dominated by males leading to subjugation to domestic demands and the males’ judgemental eyes on women in a society perceived to be a patriarchy. Nonetheless, this should also encompass understanding of their behaviours as a response to other people (McElhiney 77).

For example, Emily’s mother while ironing, in her head uncountable questions sprung as she tried to gather her previous memories with her daughter and tried to understand what could have gone wrong. She comes to realization and the acceptance and indicated that the past should be left in the past since nothing can be done against. Finally Emily’s mother reaches a particular kind of understanding and noted that “…when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, t estimate, to total? I will start and there will be an interruption and I will have to gather it all together again…” (Olsen 292). Moreover, it is out of thus understanding and self-realization that women are saved from the shackles of a patriarchal society.

Moreover, in a bid to capitulate the men involved in her life power, Emily’s mother stated that “I had to bring her to his family and leave her” (Olsen 293). The result of this action, the society instilled in Emily’s mother that women are born powerless and instead of fighting to beat the odds of patriarchal, she succumbed to the trap laid by social norms and ended up victimizing herself (Bao & Wei 343). She went ahead to offer her own description and indicated that her “breasts ached with swollenness” which was a clear pointer on the struggles and painful womanhood (Olsen 292). Moreover, during this period (Great depression), women were focused towards dismantling the domination of the males and as result, Emily’s mother sought to work independently and fill the father figure to her child after her husband abandoned them.

For instance, soon after Emily was 8 months old, her mother would leave her and in order to look for jobs that would be able to sustain them. The reason why the mother’s guilt increased was because of the teacher’s perception that it was out of her negligence that her daughter had succumbed to the harm. As result, the author introduces a society whereby women are judged and victimized in their efforts even when they do not have any assistance (Pratt 132). According to Jafni & Bahar (256), this judgmental nature of the society results to women detachment from men. For instance, in the story, over the time, Emily’s mother took the toll towards the housekeeping obligations and insisted the same should be with Emily.

For example, she gave Emily and impression that women are just static beings while living in the patriarchal society. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 293). The single parenthood that forced Emily’s mother to work at the same time taking care of her baby created an inevitable bond breakage between her daughter and herself (Paul 91) Equally important, the reason why Emily’s mother got married was because she needed to fulfil the patriarchal practices that were required of her by the society. In this case, Emily was never married to fulfil her own needs such as emotional feelings but rather to adhere to these societal practices (Jafni & Bahar 255). Unfortunately, the new relationship she was engaged with Emily’s father seemed to have been contrary to her expectation of a patriarchal system when men provide for the family while women take care of their family (Bao & Wei 343).

At first, the statement from Emily’s mother suggests that she suits the feminine mystique when she indicated that “I wasn’t working. The roles bequeathed upon women are beyond escape as it is evident from Emily’s mother marriage whereby she indicated she only did that in order to conform to the expectations of the patriarchal society. As seen from the start of the story, the sole desire of the mother was to life as perfect housewife whose roles were dictated by the male dominated society. Moreover, even at the time she was working, it is enumerated above that, this was not a liberation to the roles that society had set but she was still bound the female chores and expectations.

The judgemental society as portrayed in the story is also full of demands which results to emotional detachment between men and women as illustrated through Emily’s mother experience. At the end of the story as Emily’s mother hopes that her daughter would be “…more than this dress on the ironing board” it serves as clear representation of women suffering in the patriarchal society. “Mediating Experiences in the Scholarship of Tillie Olsen. ” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, 1997, pp. JSTOR, JSTOR, www. Kirschner, Linda Heinlein. “I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen. ” The English Journal, vol. 65, no. 1, 1976, pp. Bao, Zhongming, and Mindan Wei. "A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Mother-daughter Relationship in “I Stand Here Ironing”. " Journal of Language Teaching and Research 7.