“I STAND HERE IRONING” THEMATIC STATEMENT Because the mother is characterized as recognizing her past flaws and failures, her attitude toward her daughter is one of defeated love
LITERARY ELEMENTS Lines 1-26 Metaphor Rhetorical Questions Polysyndeton Tonal Shift Point of View/Parallel Structure Lines Point of view shifts Parallelism Cacophonous diction Metaphor Polysyndeton Lines Juxtaposition Cacophonous Diction Euphonious Diction Point of view Understatement
RECOGNITION OF FLAWS/FAILURES Metaphor of the iron: “I stand here ironing, and what you ask me moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (1-2) Ironing: the process of straightening out wrinkles or imperfections
DEFEATED ATTITUDE/TONE Rhetorical questions: “What good would it do? You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key?” (7- 9) Draws attention to the mother’s apprehension/ discouraged attitude Polysyndeton: “And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total?” (12-13) Emphasis added with each addition – a long list of things to accomplish
LOVE FOR DAUGHTER Tonal Shift: “She was a beautiful baby” (18) Positive language immediately following a negative/ defeated paragraph – no transition Two tones about one subject (her daughter) Short in length – greater impact Point of View/ Parallel Structure: “You do not guess how new and uneasy her tenancy in her now-loveliness. You did not know her all those years…” (19-21) The mother is distinguished from “you” (the others) She sees her daughter in a way that others cannot
RECOGNITION OF FLAWS/FAILURES Juxtaposition: Lines 49-51: “ …I was nineteen. It was the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of depression…..when she saw me she would break into a clogged weeping that could not be comforted,…” Lines 52-54: “ She is so lovely….She will find her way.” Creates an effect of surprise of how the mother can talk about the negative of being a single mother and have the tone of defeat, but then her attitude shifts to the overwhelming joy and love for her daughter. Rhetorical Question: Line 33: “ Why do I put that first?” Draws the attention to the point where the mother reflects on her downfalls of life
DEFEATED ATTITUDE Cacophonous Diction Lines 30-31: “ Through her cries battered me to trembling and my breast ached with swollenness..” The harsh tone. Her defeat of being a good mother Euphonious Diction: Lines 35-37: “ She was beautiful baby. She blew shining bubbles of sound. She loved motion…” The diction and tone of the mother shifted from a defeated attitude to the joy and love she had for her daughter..
LOVE FOR DAUGHTER The Mother’s Point of View : Lines 42-43: “ …. and for Emily’s father,….” The fact that the mother uses the daughter’s name once to acknowledge Emily’s father, establishes that Emily is more than a name. In the mother’s eyes the daughter is someone that cannot be adequately described. Highlights the bond of their relationship that no one can understand. (mother & daughter connection)
RECOGNITION OF FLAWS/FAILURES Shifts from first person point of view to third person Shows the limitations her life placed upon her, and how that affected her daughter “I will” or “I had to” (65-67) “she was” (70-73) “I was” (75-76) “she has” or “she is” or “help her to know” (81-86)
LOVE FOR DAUGHTER Metaphor “could not afford for her the soil of easy growth…there were the other children pushing up” (74-76) Planting: want to grow/cultivate something. Willing to care for/work. Other children “pushing up”: distinguishes her from others because she’s not pushing up like others “she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron” (87-88) Ironing: want to fix creases (flaws) She’s more than just a bunch of flaws
Polysyndeton “She was dark and thin and foreign-looking in a world where prestige went to blondeness and curly hair and dimples” (70-72) Places an emphasis on each idea Magnifies what the mother thought of her vs what society thinks