"I Stand Here Ironing" Emily and her Mother
I found this story to be very genuine. Emily's mother seems like an honest woman who recognizes what she didn't do in order to make Emily's life a little easier and help her to develop into a "normal" child. Despite the mentioning of her being a frail and an unconfident little girl i visualize her beautifully and with a glow. I think the author did a good job at making the reader fall in love and sympathize with Emily without having resentment for the mother. I believe this story shows the progression of the mother as a mother even though the story was about what she felt was failures on her part. I think she has turned into a mom she is more proud of, involved in her children's life. It was nice to see Emily evolve towards the end of the story and perform comedy for an audience. Her mother said ,"Was this Emily? The control, the command, the convulsing and deadly clowning, the spell, then the roaring, stamping audience, unwilling to let this rare and precious laughter out of their lives" (11) and to me this showed a powerful side of Emily, as a reader i was proud of her for leaving her comfort zone and doing something that takes guts to do and of course so was her mother. That is what most children want, to make their parents proud and she did that.
i agree with you....it was a proud moment as a reader for me as well. she endured so much. she was lost with out a place in her family or in the world. it was nice to see her find somethig to in power her and make her feel proud of herself.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the mother plays a part in Emily discovering comedy/acting? Why does Emily choose to perform comedy and not drama?
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that her hardships and having not the easiest life influenced this. Many people use comedy and jokes to cope with their hardships. If you look into the lives of some standup comedians you will see they had a lot of obstacles and struggling so far in their life. It is definitely a healthier way to deal with things that may be sort of dull. I think she chose comedy over drama because her life was dramatic enough and the comedy brightened her life up and added a smile to not only her face but to the face of others as well as laughter.
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