The context of this quote in the story is that Emily's
mother, who is home ironing, receives a call from someone--perhaps a school
administrator: principal, guidance counselor or social worker--asking about Emily out of
concern for her. The quote is the first line of the
story.
The importance of the statement is that someone has
seen a need in Emily and wants to help, so the person calls her mother. Emily's mother
can understand that her daughter may need help, but does not know what
she can do. She has tried so many times as Emily has been older to
make up for the difficulty of Emily's first seven years of life, and has been tormented
by her own concern, back and forth over the years, just as the iron moves, back and
forth.
Emily's mother is speaking: she is the story's
narrator.
While the narrator remembers the past, she blames
herself that raising Emily was so hard for so long. The memories she brings back in
recalling the past move back and forth like the movement of the iron: both the ironing
and the remembering are hard, endless work for this mother. The mother compares the act
of ironing to the act of raising Emily: the heat of the iron struggles to straighten the
fabric of clothing ironed, straightened against its will. And with Emily, her mother
has tried to straighten things out with her, too, against her will, as Emily is reserved
and hard to reach.
The mother ends the conversation by
asking the caller to let Emily be. She believes there is enough "bloom" or promise in
Emily that she can survive in this world. If nothing else, the mother asks the caller
to make sure, to make certain, that Emily knows that she is NOT
like a piece of clothing to be straightened under the onslaught (the attack) of a hot
iron. She is not helpless, but she can survive and succeed with the gifts that are hers
alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment