I Stand Here Ironing takes place in a historical setting; the story references the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. The story is told in the first person by Emily's mother. His writing logic as it was is governed by the narrator's thought process. As an audience, we directly experience what the narrator is thinking and get a deeply personalized story. In this historical context, Olsen's intimate story is actually a way of speaking truth to power, of representing the life and struggle of an ordinary person. The purpose of the title is given to us from the beginning of the story. We learn that the narrator is a mother of many children. Emily's mother is interrupted during her routine by a disturbing question from her daughter's teacher. The question “goes tormented back and forth with the iron” (Olsen, 1). The continued movement of the iron gives the audience of the story a continuous flow of poverty and responsibilities that prevent them from giving Emily their full attention and care. Iron is used as a symbol to represent the forces that shape people's lives. This shows that Emily can control her own life and that she is her own person and that more than an iron can shape her. Through this story, we follow Emily, the narrator's daughter, from birth to late adolescence. Unfortunately, we only know her life in fragments, from her mother's perspective, but this perspective allows the story to reveal how the circumstances of Emily's upbringing have a profound effect on her personal development. The story would have changed completely if it had been written in another form, such as third person omniscient. For example, he may have given us a more detailed description... middle of paper ...... and at the end, the narrator's daughter, Emily, asks her mother if she will ever stop iron. At this point in history, we know that this is a very sensitive issue. If “ironing” represents all material difficulties – poverty, single motherhood, illness, etc. – which made the narrator a “distracted mother”, Emily’s question is whether her mother will ever pay attention to her. The story ends with a response to the teacher that sounds like a prayer. “Leave her alone.” The narrator continues: “Just help her to know – help her to have a reason to know – that she is more than that dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron” (Olsen, 56). Even if the mother is still not sure that her daughter will escape her fate, "powerless before the iron", she at least has the fervent hope of realizing the immense promise of her talent..