Response to "I Stand Here Ironing"

After reading this story the second time, I really want to know more about Emily's relationship with her father. The narrator says that he abandons them before Emily turns one. However, Emily lives with his family for a little while and also, it seems like the mother is telling this story to the father because she refers to Emily as "our child". If he is in Emily's life, I wonder whether they have a good relationship or not. If the narrator isn't speaking to the father, could it possibly be a concerned teacher or professor?

Emily's childhood is very sad. She spends it moving back and forth between her mother's care and other people's care. When she finally arrives home for good, she isn't able to play and enjoy life like a child should because she has to be a second mother to her siblings. It amazes me how a little girl who doesnt get enough love and attention can be so loving and peaceful when any other child in her situation would be rebellious and grudgeful. Sure there is resentment between Emily and her siblings but she does not show it. Also, I'm glad she is able to find the attention she needs in the crowd while she is performing.
I want to briefly comment on how much I love the last sentence "... she [Emily] is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron." Her mother's decisions and behavior towards her made her the type of person she is. In this sentence, her mother expresses that she wants Emily to know that she can get up from the "ironing table" that her mother put her in and reshape herself. In a way, her mother is apologizing for being the way she was and is giving Emily the freedom to take control of her own life.