Mother/Daughter Relationship in “I Stand Here Ironing”

There are numerous reasons why a child behaves in a certain way or why he or she grew up to be the person they are now.  Experts say that how a mother brings up her kid greatly affects the psychological thinking of her child.  Well, besides the other factors like race, environment, health, and education, they say that mothers have a great role in the nurturing of their child.  This is shown in the works, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan.  However, it was mother-daughter relationship shown in these emotion-steering novels.

In the first novel mentioned, “I Stand Here Ironing”, this featured a mother who let the so-called experts take care of her child.  She thinks that the experts know what is best for her child (http://litsum.com/i-stand-here-ironing/analysis001.php).  Although she does want to follow the rules of these experts but she was forced to do so because she does not have any other choice (http://litsum.com/i-stand-here-ironing/).

However, the environment also plays a large role why she was forced to follow the experts in sending her child, Emily, to nursery at a very early age, and sending her to a recuperative home where she moves by numbers, where she was not free to do what she wants and Emily was not even allowed to have physical contact with her parents.  And during this time, America was experiencing the Great Depression.  It was hard for the mother to manage their home, take care of young Emily, and it was most difficult to work.

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And because she had to work, she did not have ample time to spend with Emily.  It even got to a point where she had to let her parents-in-law to take care of Emily.  It was also a huge adjustment when her mother remarried but things got worse when she had four younger siblings.  There was also a time when the mother was pregnant with her second daughter and Emily got measles.  She was not permitted to come close her mother for the safety of not only her mother but also the baby.  As for school, Emily performed not at all satisfactory.

Having four siblings to take care of, she can only study at night when all of them are already asleep.  Not to mention that her brothers and sisters were the culprit for scribbles on important material and missing books.  Emily was not at all close to her mother no matter how her mother tried to be close to her.  Her mother was too busy doing other things that she had not been really in touch with her daughter.

Emily was always left alone.  On the contrary, she had a knack for arts and comedy.  Though her childhood can be classified as bleak, she can be found shining through the art of comedy.  It is quite remarkable that Emily had made it through it all without the actual help and guidance of her mother.  Unexpectedly, she found her real self, what her passion was without the supervision of her mother.

The latter novel, “Two Kinds”, was presented as a mother prompting her child to excel in all fields especially in the field where the mother thinks that the child has a lot of potential at.  It was a novel wherein the child was forced to follow what her mother wants her to be.  It was a novel wherein the mother takes control of the life of the child.  She will determine the future of the child.  And great depression and misery await if their wants are not obeyed.  It involves kids prodded to be stars and geniuses.

Well, it is usual for mothers to want the best for their children.  Although, sometimes, it gets worse that the children are not allowed to make their own choices.  Why do mothers, not only mothers but the same goes for both parents, behave this way?  This may be due to competition with other parents that they have produced a genius.  Or it may be due to their wants as kids that they did not achieve, so they want their children to be what they want to be.  Sometimes, the child becomes a rebel due to this kind of bearing.

The child rearing style of the two novels are not exactly correct but it was the best they can think of.  The first was too lenient while the latter, too strict.  Although both mothers idolize the famous Shirley Temple, the first mother let he child be what she wants to be, while the other wanted her child to be a star.  Furthermore, both daughters achieved what they want to be in the end, but in different ways.  One was hiding from her mother and the other, from rebellion.  It is queer enough to think that no matter how a mother brings up her child, it would be the child’s decision who she wants to be and how she is going to make it there.

REFERENCES

BookRags Student Essays on “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. 2000-2006. http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/11/10/16231/007.

I Stand Here Ironing Summary, Detailed Analysis. http://litsum.com/i-stand-here-ironing/analysis001.php

I Stand Here Ironing Summary, Detailed Summary. http://litsum.com/i-stand-here-ironing/

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