Abstract
This paper looks at how the basis of Tillie Olsen's writings reflect the socialism that was part of her family background. In many ways her short stories as well as her novel writing reveal the poverty and struggles for a family to rise above the injustice of radical capitalistic systems. The problem with unregulated monetary or banking systems as was seen in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 is clearly represented through the social milieu of Olsen's characterizations.

From the Paper
"The biographical sense of life in the 1930s not only expresses a need for greater balance over radical capitalism, but also expresses the need for realizing how women lived in the Depression Era. In her stories, there is a need to realize her plight for the working person, since was raised in an environment where desperation and labor were the central focus of her work. Furthermore, the essence of socialism as a political structure is emphasized in her activity within Communist and Socialist parties that were being formed and persecuted in this time period. In essence, the life and times of Tillie Olsen will be analyzed through her writings, which will bring forth her socialist political views that were her main literary message to the..."

Tags:olsen, socialism, america

Abstract
This paper offers an interpretation of the Tillie Olsen story "I Stand Here Ironing," focusing on what is reflected in Emily's face and behavior but is not related in the story.

From the Paper
"We have all been children at one time and most of us can remember times when our parents had to leave us with someone else to go somewhere. Many of us had parents that worked so we were left somewhere every day. This story identifies the disconnect that can occur between mother and child when it is necessary to leave the child each day, emphasizing that it is not always possible to repair the damage done thereby. The mother in..."

Tags:I Stand Here Ironing, Olsen, neglect, love, disenfranchisement, pain

Abstract
The work of Tillie Olsen, American novelist and short-story writer, draws directly from her experience and those around her, and the life circumstances of some of her characters are almost identical to her own circumstances. This paper examines how, in "I Stand Here Ironing," the narrator of the story, a single working-class mother of five children uses the time while she is ironing to contemplate the life of her oldest, nineteen-year-old Emily, prompted by the concerned request of Emily's teacher for a meeting with the mother. The paper discusses how Olsen uses the story to compensate for a better life for the child and looks at some of the parallels between the characters and Olsen's own life experience.

From the Paper
"In Tillie Olsen's own life, a life of hard work at low-paying jobs, time was a precious thing. Her writing had a difficult time finding a place in her life, competing with Olsen's jobs, five children, and housework (Coiner). Constance Coiner quotes Olsen herself in an attempt to explain to readers of her biography just how difficult it was to find time to dedicate to her writing: "Time on the bus, even when I had to stand, was enough; the stolen moments at work, enough; the deep night hours for as long as I could stay awake, after the kids were in bed, after the household tasks were done, sometimes during." In the same passage, Olsen reminds the readers that "it is no accident that the first work ... began: 'I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron.' " Her narrator is ironing and continues doing that throughout the story probably because the story germinated in Olsen's mind while she was doing that or a similar task, and not while she was relaxing on the lake side at a mountain resort as would be expected of an author because, as Coiner mentions in Olsen's biography, "most of the people who wrote books came from the privileged classes." "

Tags:Emily, working, class, poverty

Abstract
This paper looks at the life of Tillie Olsen who was born into a working class family and who overcame her disadvantaged upbringing to become a famous author and political activist. Her devotion to her literary work, to her family and to her politics were inextricable from one another and from the larger entity of Tillie herself. This paper also reviews some of her works and evaluates how they are based on lifetime experiences.

From the Paper
"Due to her exposure to many politicos and intellectuals, as well as a natural endowment of intellectual capabilities, Tillie was able to transcend the limitations of her socio-economic status, if only for a brief time, to attend an academic high school where she was presented with greater opportunity and a richer education. And though financial needs would force her to drop out a year before she could graduate, she would be fast to point out in later interviews that she was blessed with far more education than most women in her peer group, particularly those born of working class families. But more often than not, her writing was guided heavily by political influences, as opposed to academic ones."

Tags:economic, sexual, equality, communists, capitalism, domestic, demands

Abstract
The paper makes references to Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing" "Tell Me a Riddle" and "Silences" and shows how Olsen's views on motherhood are heavily influenced by her own life experiences, especially her experiences as a mother. The paper discusses Olsen's belief that a mother needs to understand her own dependency needs in order to understand who she is as a person.

From the Paper
"Tillie Olsen had a life that can hardly be described as easy or comfortable. She lived in poverty and as a young mother, never found time for herself. For this reason, she understood the trials and tribulations of motherhood as well as the need for self discovery. Thus her work, however little, dwelled on the subject of motherhood with respect to self discovery. That is one of the most amazing aspects of Olsen's views on motherhood. Self-discovery is an important aspect of Tillie Olsen's discourse on motherhood."

Tags:daughter, dependency, children

Abstract
This paper discusses Tillie Olsen's book "I Stand Here Ironing" that looks at the stresses and guilt feelings that surround motherhood. The paper relates that book is about a mother's reconstruction of her life to frame her guilt properly and possibly purge herself of the same.

From the Paper
"Motherhood can be a stressful experience and it can become even more complex when fraught with guilt. In the short story, I stand here Ironing, Tillie Olsen transcribes a mother's reconstruction of her life to frame her guilt properly and possibly purge herself of the same. The physical action of the iron as it goes back and forth is juxtaposed with the mental process of reflection on the past and the present. "I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth 1 with the iron." (p. 12) A guilt-ridden mother reconstructs her past to understand her daughter's present behavior, blaming herself for possible neglect as Emily was growing up. As mother goes back to fetch her past life, we as readers get a glimpse of Emily's childhood. There are few intrusions that bring her back to the present like "I put the iron down" (p. 12); "Ronnie is calling. He is wet and I change him" (p. 17); "She is coming." (p. 19). But this journey of recollection ends on a positive note, "At the end she comes to understand that she'd done the best she could, given the circumstances--but this simple insight, and her journey toward it, are quietly devastating." (Disher, 2001: 91)"

Tags:strength, painful, tormented

Abstract
This paper looks at the book "Yonnondio" from the Thirties written by Tillie Olsen. It discusses the key questions concerning how education is seen and discussed throughout the book by the characters, how they approach it and also how the system affects their lives and those around them.

From the Paper
"Societal attitudes toward women are characterized by writers of fiction through the depiction of characters and the way those characters interact with the milieu in which they are found. The plight of women in American society can be seen as the subject of the stories "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, and "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen.

The women in these stories are separated from men, and the mere fact that they are separated creates a tension between themselves and their neighbors. The people of the town look at Emily in the Faulkner story as a person who is not a complete human being. At the same time, her social position requires a certain sort of match to satisfy the town, and Homer Barron does not fit the bill: "Of course a Grierson would not think ..."

Abstract
The short story "I Stand Here Ironing," by Tillie Olsen, reveals - as Chodorow argues - that maternal care is the primary shaper of children's psychological identity in their early youth.

Tags:blaming, mother, responsibility

Abstract
This paper explores the early works of Tillie Olsen and Amy Tan. The paper describes how Tillie Olsen's early short story "I Stand Here Ironing" expresses the regrets of a failed mother / daughter relationship, while Amy Tan's early work "Two Kinds" relate a story of failed expectations and the disintigration of a mother / daughter relationship. The paper illustrates how both stories draw heavily from the author's personal biographies and the stories are reviewed in this context.

From the Paper
"Often the events and circumstances that surround us have a greater effect upon our interpersonal relationships than the intentions of those involved. The short stories "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan and "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen chronicle the disintegration of the mother / daughter relationship when the characters best intentions are unable to surmount their economic and geopolitical environments. The first person narratives in each recount, in spite of the best intentions of the mothers, a lifetime of regrets of what was done, left undone, said and left unsaid and the inability of the mothers and daughters to communicate..."

Tags:tillie olsen, amy tan, literature