I Stand Here Ironing Women and Femininity Quotes Page 1
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| Quote #1 I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron. (1) |
The story opens as if the narrator is interrupted while at a typical domestic task. This simple first sentence gives us some clues about our narrator. What kind of a person would say "I stand here ironing?" We think this person is probably a woman, a woman who does not have the money to pay for someone else to do the laundry, a woman who, if she is ironing constantly, probably has a large family to care for. As we read on, we find that our guesses would be right on target.
| Quote #2 You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key? [...] There is all that life that has happened outside of me, beyond me. (3) |
It could seem that the mother doesn't care enough about her daughter to really know her. But really, we think she has a rather defeated tone. As the story progresses, we find that as a poor, single mother, the narrator simply did not have much time to spend with her daughter, however much she wanted to.
| Quote #3 You do not guess how new and uneasy her tenancy in her now-loveliness. (5) |
The narrator points out that Emily, who has only recently blossomed, struggled with her appearance in the past.
