I Stand Here Ironing
Literary Research Paper – I Stand Here Ironing
Kloss, Robert J. "Balancing the Hurts and the Needs: Olsen's 'I Stand Here Here Ironing,'." Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 15.1-2 (Mar. 1994): 78-86. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 114. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. Kloss’s, "Balancing the Hurts and the Need Olsen's 'I Stand Here Ironing'", points out that in the story, we get motherhood "stripped of romantic distortion." Kloss describes motherhood as a metaphor of developing a responsible selfhood, concluding that "We must trust the power of each to 'find her way' even in the face of powerful external constraints on individual control." He also points out that from the mother's point of view, this may indeed be true, as she attempts in extreme adversity to balance her own hurts and needs. Kloss however states that common sense tells us that this simply cannot be true for the child. Given her helplessness, what infant or toddler can possibly have it within her power or control to "find her own way."
He backs up his idea by pointing out the fact that while the mother can find reasonable and mature ways to satisfy her own needs and allay her hurts (e.g., a job, a new husband), Emily must somehow, first as infant, then child, cope with and defend against persistent, overwhelming fears and fantasies as best she can. Kloss brings out the point that caring figures always come and go--the woman downstairs, the grandparents, the mother, and the nurses. As the child moved from house to house to institution to yet another house, even the environment itself does not remain stable. Kloss goes on to describe the child's vantage point, it seems clear that nothing or no one can be depended on. That these separations are traumatic to Emily can readily be inferred from the fact that they
Kloss, Robert J. "Balancing the Hurts and the Needs: Olsen's 'I Stand Here Here Ironing,'." Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 15.1-2 (Mar. 1994): 78-86. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 114. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. Kloss’s, "Balancing the Hurts and the Need Olsen's 'I Stand Here Ironing'", points out that in the story, we get motherhood "stripped of romantic distortion." Kloss describes motherhood as a metaphor of developing a responsible selfhood, concluding that "We must trust the power of each to 'find her way' even in the face of powerful external constraints on individual control." He also points out that from the mother's point of view, this may indeed be true, as she attempts in extreme adversity to balance her own hurts and needs. Kloss however states that common sense tells us that this simply cannot be true for the child. Given her helplessness, what infant or toddler can possibly have it within her power or control to "find her own way."
He backs up his idea by pointing out the fact that while the mother can find reasonable and mature ways to satisfy her own needs and allay her hurts (e.g., a job, a new husband), Emily must somehow, first as infant, then child, cope with and defend against persistent, overwhelming fears and fantasies as best she can. Kloss brings out the point that caring figures always come and go--the woman downstairs, the grandparents, the mother, and the nurses. As the child moved from house to house to institution to yet another house, even the environment itself does not remain stable. Kloss goes on to describe the child's vantage point, it seems clear that nothing or no one can be depended on. That these separations are traumatic to Emily can readily be inferred from the fact that they