I Stand Here Ironing

In the story "I Stand Here Ironing" I think that the mother believes that she has neglected to care for her daughter the way that she had cared for her other children. At the end of the story the mother says, "I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother. There were other children pushing up, demanding. Her younger sister seemed all that she was not. " (288-289) When I first read this story I did not like the mother because of the way that I felt she treated Emily, it seemed that she treated her different from the other children. When I look at the story closer I see that the mother did all that she could for Emily considering her circumstances when she had her. When Emily was born her father left her mother and the mother was forced to do any work she could find during the first six years of Emily's life (288). So now I would say that I do not think that Emily's mother did anything wrong considering her circumstances. I think that she has been as good of a mother that she could be. She was trying to raise Emily on her own during the Depression Era there were of course sacrifices that would need to be made. She took Emily to a daycare that she knew was bad but that was the only way that she could work and be with Emily at the same time (284). I realize that throughout the story the mother did not always seem to make the right decision regarding Emily's care but I think that she realized that at the end of the story and felt guilty for it.