In "I Stand Here Ironing," Tillie Olsen tells the story of a woman who greatly struggles as a young and inexperienced mother. Through a stream of consciousness point of view, a pessimistic tone, and an unstructured construction, Olsen solidifies how unsuccessful she feels her performance as a mother is.
Right from the beginning of the story, Olsen does not seem to focus on what specific event or occurrence, but seems to just simply ramble on about her struggle as a new mother. This exemplifies her concept that she was not a good mother because it demonstrates a lack of focus as well as attentiveness, which are both key traits required to raise a young child. Also, throughout the whole story, she says very few positive things, putting great emphasis on her failures as a parent. For example, when Emily was first getting sick, and she would call for her mother in the middle of the night, she would call back, "now go to sleep, Emily, there's nothing to hurt you," (268) greatly showing her lack of maturity when dealing with children. Lastly, on the topic of the construction of the piece, there is very little organization, which also goes along with her interior monologue point of view. However, the syntax itself remains consistent in its assembly, but the fluidity from paragraph to paragraph, and thought to thought is almost non-existent. Olsen is jumping around in a form that does not seem to make sense to the reader, which finally illustrates her own views on her struggle parenting because she saw herself parenting in a way that no one could follow, therefore making Emily's life unstable.
Through all aspect of, "I Stand Here Ironing," it is apparent that Olsen saw herself as an unsuccessful parent.
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