Response to “I Stand Here Ironing”

“She was too vulnerable for that terrible world of youthful competition, of preening and parading, of constant measure‐ ing of yourself against every other, of envy, “If I had that copper hair,” or “If I had that skin. . .” She tormented herself enough about not looking like the others, there was enough of the unsureness, the having to be conscious of words before you speak, the constant caring—what are they thinking of me?” (Olsen, page 5)

As obvious as it is, I never really consciously came to terms with how much being a mother is watching your child go through their various stages of pain, which is especially prevalent in one’s teen years, and sometimes not knowing what to do to help. As a teenager you are so self conscious, you think everyone is watching your every move all the time, it is as if you have an imaginary audience and because of that most teenagers care painfully about how they look. It shows how empathetic Momma is that she worries about Emily’s feelings when they are about something as seemingly simple as how she looks, especially when she has so many other children to worry about. Momma’s thoughts bring validity to what Emily is thinking, Momma thinks, “She was too vulnerable for that terrible world of youthful competition”. By using the words “vulnerable”, “terrible” and “Painful” Momma is truly able to bring into light just how much Emily is suffering in her teenage world, for the reader. It further amazes me that Momma is still able to have so much empathy for the seemingly benign things that Emily worries about, because when Momma was a teenager she had to worry about seemingly much bigger things like getting a job to feed her children on her own. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to watch your daughter go through so much pain and feel like there is nothing that you can do about it. Moreover, I appreciate that this story does not glorify youth, like many other stories do.