I Stand Here Ironing Essay Examples and Research Papers

Emily is the central character of “I Stand Here Ironing,” the subject of a fractured portrait that emerges from the narrator’s memories of the past.

I Stand Here Ironing looks at the themes of women and femininity through the lens of a mother-daughter relationship. Struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression, the narrator works long hours and is unable to care for her daughter.

Metaphor. One of the story’s central metaphors is established in the opening line: I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron. As the narrator irons her daughter (Emily)’s dress, she is also “ironing out” her daughter’s path and problems.