What is the significance of the iron and the process of ironing?I'm writing an essay and the above question I have to include in it "I Stand Here...

In Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing" the mother's act
of ironing is a metaphor for an examination of the past in an effort to reconcile her
responsibilities to and relationship with her daughter Emily.  In her
stream-of-consciousness, the mother passes back and forth in time, like the iron, and
attempts to "iron out" her feelings and actions.  For instance, she tells the official
from the school,

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I nursed her.  They feel that's important
nowadays....I do not even know if it matters, or if it explains
anything.

After this
statement, the mother goes back over the daughter's childhood, admitting that she had to
put Emily in a nurseries "that are only parking places for children"; later, she
confesses to having to place Emily in an orphanage. As she irons and remembers, the
mother returns to stages in Emily's life with added explanation of her actions, "What
could I do?"  At times she even says, "I put the iron down" as she reflects upon Emily's
character and comedic talents.  Indeed, Tillie Olsen's short story "I Stand Here
Ironing" fuses both motherhood and experience in the metaphor of
ironing.