Mothers and Daughters

Paper Summary:

The paper examines two short stories, "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker and "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olson, where both viewpoint characters are the mothers of now-grown daughters who realize truths about their daughters they never saw before. The paper explains that "I Stand Here Ironing" is written in a more mainstream way, without ethnic or regional colloquialisms, while "Everyday Use" reflects, in terms of content as well as style, the distinctiveness of African- American culture. The paper analyzes both stories in terms of style and content and demonstrates the similarities of many of the key themes and realizations of the mothers within these stories.

From the Paper:

"In "Everyday Use", Mama is the mother of Dee, who is flashy, outspoken, confident and successful, and Maggie, who is shyer and mush less confident, but who has survived a fire and has quiet inner strength her mother has not always seen. In "I Stand Here Ironing", Emily's unnamed mother, who is ironing clothes throughout the whole story, recollects to herself how someone, perhaps a teacher or counselor from Emily's school, had once wanted to talk to her, a poor working single parent, about Emily's needing help. Then, later, the mother recalls, Emily showed a surprising gift for comedy."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Olson, Tillie. "I Stand here Ironing." Retrieved June 27, 2006, from: <www.constantreader.com/shortstory.htm>.
• Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Robert DiYanni (Ed.). New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. 408-413.

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