FREE ESSAY ON TILLIE OLSEN'S I STAND HERE IRONING AND ALICE WALKER'S EVERYDAY USE

TILLIE OLSEN'S I STAND HERE IRONING AND ALICE WALKER'S EVERYDAY USE

Love and Acceptance
Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing, and Alice Walker's Everyday Use, both address the
issue of a mother's guilt over how her children turn out. Both mothers blamed themselves
for their daughter's problems. While I Stand Here Ironing is obviously about the mousy
daughter, in Everyday Use this is camouflaged by the fact most of the action and dialog
involves the mother and older sister Dee. Neither does the mother in Everyday Use say
outright that she feels guilty, but we catch a glimpse of it when Dee is trying very hard
to claim the handmade quilts. The mother says she did something she had never done
before, hugged Maggie to me, then took the quilts from Dee and gave them to Maggie. In I
Stand Here Ironing the mother tells us she feels guilty for the way her daughter Emily
is, for the things she (the mother) did and did not do. The mother's neighbor even tells
her she should smile at Emily more when you look at her. Again towards the end of the
story Emily's mother admits my wisdom came too late. The mothers unknowingly gave Emily
and Maggie second best.
Both mothers compare their two daughters to each other. In Everyday Use the mother tells
us that Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She Fahning
-2-speaks of the fire that burned and scarred Maggie. She tells us how Maggie is not
bright, how she shuffles when she walks. Comparing her with Dee whose feet vwere always
neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them. We also learn of Dee's style and the way
she awes the other girls at school with it.
The mother in I Stand Here Ironing speaks of Susan, quick and articulate and assured,
everything in appearance and manner Emily was not. Emily thin and dark and
foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she
should look a chubby blonde replica of Shirley Temple. Like Dee, Emily had a physical
limitation also. Hers was asthma.
Both Emily and Maggie show resentment towards their sisters. The sisters who God rewarded
with good looks and poise. Emily's mother points out the poisonous feeling between the
sisters, feelings she contributed to by her inability to balance the hurts and needs of
the two. In Everyday Use we see Maggie eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.
She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that no is a word the
world would never say to her. Maggie's mother seems to have reinforced this by being
unable to say no to Dee also. This is what makes the point in the story when she finally
does say no (regarding the quilts) such an important moment in Maggie's life.
The attitude of the mothers towards the polished daughters borders on contempt. I believe
this is more evident in Everyday Use, demonstrated by the dream of the TV show. Also the
description of Dee reading to them, burned us with a lot of knowledge we Fahning
-3-didn't necessarily need to know, and again when she shoved us away...like dimwits.
It's also pointed out that Dee and Susan are self-centered and selfish while Maggie and
Emily are caring and giving.
I think in the end both of the mothers realize their daughters are okay the way they are.
They come to accept their daughters limitations and cherish their quiet gifts. Not
everyone can be polished and successful in worldly ways. Maybe that's why Maggie was
smiling in the end, her mother finally accepted her as is.
Bibliography
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