Moral / Philosophical Analysis of I Stand Here Ironing

When viewing literary work through the lens of a moral and philosophical critic, one makes an effort to judge the ethical content of the text. Morality is taken into question when judging characters and their actions. Single passages, phrases, and quotes are not evaluated out of context or questioned alone. Rather, the moral and philosophical critic will examine the picture as a whole. The text is treated as one entity rather than believe that different phrases can exhibit different themes. For example, a character may be at the lowest and most desperate point in his or her life and believe that the only way to meet the needs of himself and their family is to steal from a wealthy organization. In the end, the protagonist’s family has food on their table, and he is not caught by authorities. Some critics may see this story and take it for the happy ending that it is; a man can provide for his family, only at the cost of a pocket change for a few millionaires. However, a moral and philosophical critic can preserve the bigger picture, and realize that the act of stealing in the first place was unjust and immoral. No matter how desperate the protagonist may be, or how wealthy the organization he stole from is, he does not have the moral authority to take that which is not his. Using a moral/philosophical lense, one can determine the reasons for Emily’s unfortunate childhood in Tillie Olsen's short story, I Stand Here Ironing.

A Moral/Philosophical critic would judge Emily’s father as the character responsible for Emily’s plight. Emily’s father is only briefly mentioned in the short story, but one is aware that he abandoned his infant daughter and wife early into Emily’s life. This action is immoral. A father has a moral responsibility to be there for his children and spouse. This is his moral obligation, and by leaving his wife alone with very little money and a very difficult life ahead, he is responsible for the misfortunate future ahead and has violated his commitment as a father. This action causes Emily’s mother’s depression, Emily’s sad and poor childhood and all the other misfortunes in the family’s near future. A Moral/Philosophical critic would not judge Emily’s mother for this situation, because all of her actions were for the good of her family, which are all morally good and justifiable. Her mother’s decisions were done to provide Emily with things that she couldn’t. By disobeying his moral duties, Emily’s father causes a ripple effect that caused Emily’s rough upbringing.

Rather than criticizing the entire story piece by piece and possibly picking apart significant passages or quotes, a moral/philosophical critic can analyze this story with only the main plot. Emily’s father was referred to the least throughout this story, but can still be labeled as the root of the family’s problems and possibly the trigger which ignited the short story in the first place.