In “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, the story is narrated by Emily’s mother describing the hardships of motherhood. With the mother’s perspective we are introduced to the main protagonist, Emily who is a troubling child who constantly feels outcasted from society. One would think that the Emily would fall under a flat character since it’s told in the eyes of another individual, when in fact the narrative shocks readers by making Emily the most complex character in the story while also making the narrator just as complex. With the narration of Emily’s mother, she recounts about the troubling times Emily experienced being aware that she was “frail” and “foreign looking.” Emily’s psychological state alters as well, with at first constantly pleading for the love of her absent, hardworking mother to not even desiring a speck of love from everyone. What this does to a girl mentally makes the reader’s empathetic even though the story lacks the inner thoughts of the protagonist herself. However, with the mother’s narration and thoroughly elaborating Emily, the lack of Emily’s conscious is compensated for.
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