The mother-daughter relationship in “I Stand Here Ironing” To many people, the ideal mother-daughter relationship is not like the one we find in this short story. In thiscase, however, its not being an ideal relationship is notthe fault of the mother or daughter. Through her ownrelative thoughts, the mother illustrates the circumstancesof the relationship that evolved with her daughter. Despitethe mother’s self incriminating thoughts, the dents in themold of their mother-daughter relationship were made by thetough circumstances in their lives.From the beginning we hear the mother’s selfinculpating thoughts of all she ”did or did not do.” Emilyis born into an unfortunate surrounding and, at the earlyage of eight months, her mother must leave her in the careof a woman whom Emily doesn’t favor. The mother blamesherself for her daughter’s unhappiness and yet unknowinglyjustifies her actions with the immense love that she has forher. She recognizes that she was not able to be with herdaughter at a time when young children want to cling totheir mothers the most. But what else could she do? As shestates, this was a time of the “pre-relief, pre-WPA world ofthe depression(152).” When she was away from Emily, she wasworking for her. She even found a job at night so she couldbe with Emily during the days. The mother was doing herbest to work around the circumstances with Emily’s bestinterest in mind, even at the cost of a slight dent in theirown relationship by her being away from Emily so much.At another crucial stage in Emily’s life, when thesecond baby is born, she is kept away from both her motherand the new baby. With the obvious immense attention thatis required to the newborn, it is important for Emily to bereassured of her mothers love to prevent feelings ofreplacement and jealousy. This time the separation ofmother and daughter is caused by the ...
