Everyday Use By Alice Walker And I Stand Here Ironing Essay

The stories that will be compared for this essay will be Everyday Use by Alice Walker and I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen. These two stories both share similar themes about motherhood and its difficulties especially in fairness between siblings. The two main daughters in both of these stories come off as feeling inadequate in comparison to their other siblings. The mothers in both the stories are trying so hard to make them feel deserving of happiness in life. The story Everyday Use is narrated in first and second person by the mother. The theme of this story to me seems like sibling rivalry and how their mother is doing her best to make sure that both of her daughters receive the same amount of respect. In this story a woman named Dee returns home to try and acquire some objects to show off to others. She is denied when she attempts to take some quilts that were promised to her sister which causes her to throw a fit about. The story I Stand Here Ironing is narrated in first pe rson by the mother. The theme of this story is the regret. The main character, the mother, is struggling with her decisions on how she raised her eldest daughter since she had to send her away so much when she was young whereas with her other kids she kept them all through their childhood and raised them. In the short story Everyday Use Dee returns home to visit her mother and her younger sister Maggie. Dee had gone off to college to receive a higher education while Maggie stayed home to helpShow MoreRelatedI Stand Here Ironing, By Tillie Olsen And Everyday Use By Alice Walker970 Words   |  4 PagesThe two short stories, â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen and â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker shows two mothers being concerned about one of their daughter and question how their daughters have turned out to be. The authors show this by using multiple symbols to convey the families’ relationship. By this, the authors use the iron, quilt, and clock al l to connect how each symbol shows a significant meaning in the family. In â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing,† Olsen conveys the symbolic meaning of an ironRead MoreI Stand Here Ironing By Tillie Olsen Essay2308 Words   |  10 Pagesour everyday lives. Each family has their own hopes dreams, and desires for each individual. Every family member, adults and children, should be given the best chance to reach their fullest potential in life. Every family is different and for some families in order for the individual to succeed that means that they must send their children to live with people who can better care for them and provide them with things that they as parents are not able to. In Tillie Olsen’s short story, â€Å"I Stand HereRead MoreHistory of the Development of the Short Story.3660 Words   |  15 Pagesstory sold 5,300,000 copies in only two days. Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Phillip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† adopted a consciously feminists perspective. James Baldwin’s â€Å"Going to Meet the Man† told stories of African-American life. Frank O’Connor’s â€Å"The Lonely Voice,† a classic exploration of the short story, appeared in 1963. The 1970s saw theRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesreferences. ISBN 978-1-4399-0269-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4399-0270-7 (paper : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4399-0271-4 (electronic) 1. History, Modern—20th century. 2. Twentieth century. 3. Social history—20th century. 4. World politics—20th century. I. Adas, Michael, 1943– II. American Historical Association. D421.E77 2010 909.82—dc22 2009052961 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed