"I Stand Here Ironing"

In the story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, I feel the mother’s guilt for the precious time lost while raising Emily. I think that all mothers’ sometime in their lives have some regrets of time lost with their child or children. Throughout the story, the mother is reflecting on the times she had ignored Emily’s pleas for attention. There were a few lines in the story that stuck out at me. Emily didn’t want to go to school and would make up reasons for not going. One of them was “Mamma, we can’t go, there was a fire there last night”. (284) The story is written through the mother’s memories and is very sad to me. Another part of the book bothered me also when Emily yells for her mom but her mom responds with “You’re all right, darling, go to sleep, it’s just a dream”. (285)
I’m unclear as to who is asking for the help in understanding Emily at the opening of the story. Right away though, you can hear the guilt the mother still carries about Emily. “There is all that life that has happened outside of me, beyond me.” (283)
I’m glad this story was written from the mother’s point of view. I think it would have been a completely different story if Emily was the one reflecting.