Setting is the time and place in which a story takes place. It is one of the most fundamental and critical aspects of a story. It affects the lives of the characters and the events that they live through. Tillie Olsen’s story, “I Stand Here Ironing” is set in the era of the Great Depression, a period of massive poverty and unemployment for many. It records the tormented reflections of a mother as she recalls her daughter’s life and upbringing. Prompted by another’s concern for her daughter, the mother ponders the causes of her daughter’s present problems. The mother cares a great deal for her daughter, Emily. However, Emily was born during the Great Depression. This time period in which Emily was raised made her mother incapable of caring for her properly and giving her the love and affection that is necessary for a child’s growth. Being raised in a time pervaded with difficulty had a profoundly negative effect on the relationship between Emily and her mother and on the person Emily grew to become.
At the beginning of Emily’s life, her mother is oppressed by her circumstances. She gives birth to Emily at the age of nineteen. Shortly after this, Emily father leaves her. Without Emily’s father in the picture, she is forced to find work to support herself and Emily. Through her interior monologue, she shows us the difficulty of raising a child as a single mother in a low-income household during the Great Depression. Throughout the story, it is evident that she laments the way Emily was raised. She says, “We were poor and could not afford the soil of easy growth” (Olsen, 224). She struggles with remorse because she was unable to provide an easier life for Emily.
Emily’s mother wanted the best for her, but due to the time period they were living in she was not always capable of providing love and tender care. Often, when she had to work she was forced to leave her in the care of others. Emily spent much of her ear...