“I Stand Here Ironing” was originally published in 1961 in Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen’s first collection of short stories. Since then, it has greatly impacted feminist scholars and creative writers alike and is often anthologized. The short story is an intimate exploration of one woman’s experience with motherhood between the 1930 and 1950s. Her oldest daughter, Emily, is 19 years old and has been neglected and separated from the narrator due to factors beyond their control. As the title indicates, the narrator is completing a domestic task, ironing, which affords her the opportunity to think back on the most trying aspects of Emily’s childhood.

Olsen’s work is believed to be at least semiautobiographical, reflecting her own experiences of motherhood in pre- and postwar America. Although often idealized as a time of nuclear families and patriotism, the first half of this era was marked by economic hardship thanks to the Great Depression and wartime scarcity. The 1950s, though more prosperous, did not lift everyone equally and was shadowed by the omnipresent threat of the Cold War. Furthermore, the realities of life as a single mother during this time were harsh. “I Stand Here Ironing” is an exploration of a woman attempting to navigate that world on her own, as written by a second-wave feminist author.

This study guide will rely on the version published in The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction edited by Ann Charters and published by Bedford/St. Martin’s in 2019.

The story begins with the narrator ironing while contemplating a question someone posed about her daughter, Emily. This person views Emily as a “youngster who needs help” and hopes Emily’s mother can offer insights into her character (749). This assumption frustrates the narrator, who feels that much of her daughter’s life has eluded her. Emily was a happy and pretty baby, but the narrator gave birth to her during the Great Depression, when she herself was still a teenager. Emily’s father abandoned her and her mother when Emily was eight months old. This put undue pressure on the mother to provide both economic and emotional support to her daughter. She relied first on neighbors, then on relatives of Emily’s father, and finally on a nursery school to care for Emily while she herself was at work. The latter treated its children poorly, and Emily clearly dreaded going there.

The narrator reflects on the disjunction between Emily’s childhood somberness and her newly discovered gift for comedic mimicry. She recalls Emily’s disquiet when the narrator and her new husband would leave her alone, as well as the time when Emily contracted measles while the narrator was at the hospital giving birth to another daughter, Susan. The narrator struggled to care for Emily while also tending to a newborn, and she eventually sent Emily to a patient home on the advice of a doctor or nurse. This facility rarely allowed the narrator to visit her daughter and discouraged friendships from forming among the children; it even refused to allow Emily to keep her family’s letters, citing lack of space. Emily struggled there, refusing to eat much, but the narrator faced an uphill battle in persuading the social worker to let her return home. Afterward, Emily remained thin, pale, and sickly; she had also developed an aversion to her mother holding or soothing her.

As Emily grew older, she “fretted” about her looks—particularly because her younger sister, Susan, embodied the blonde, bubbly American ideal. Unlike Emily, who failed to impress teachers and experienced a painfully unrequited crush on a classmate, Susan easily made friends. In private, Susan sometimes behaved less perfectly—e.g., stealing or breaking Emily’s belongings—which contributed to the tension between the girls. However, Emily was largely uncomplaining even when Susan would regale company with jokes and stories Emily had invented.

An even younger sibling, Ronnie, calls the narrator away from her ironing. She changes his diaper and snuggles with him. He uses a word that Emily invented, and the narrator starts to consider Emily’s impact on the family. During World War II, Emily took over much of the childcare and housework while her mother once again sought employment outside the home. It was during this period that Emily began doing impersonations to entertain her mother, who encouraged her to share her talent with others. After winning a competition at school, Emily began to achieve success with her mimicry routines, although the narrator remains unsure how to capitalize on this ability.

The narrator returns to her ironing, and Emily comes home. She is happy and beautiful, joking about her mother’s never-ending stream of ironing and the possibility of dying by atom bomb. Emily goes to bed, and the narrator takes a final moment to review the journey of Emily’s life, looking for conclusions. The best she finds is, “Only help her to know—help make it so there is cause for her to know—that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron” (754).