I Stand Here Ironing free essay sample

A Theme is Controlled Though the Setting and the Atmosphere In the short story â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen there is an atmosphere which has an overwhelming feeling of torment and a sense of regret. Taking place during the 1930s and 1940s a single mother has to cope with the Great Depression, WWII, and the feminist movement of the 1950s while raising her first born daughter Emily. A conflict is created by the lack of understanding the single teenage mother has for raising her first child. The theme that arises from this story is that to what extent can a mother be held responsible for her child’s problems, and that society must take some responsibility. â€Å"She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear. † This quotation appears at the end of the second-to-last paragraph, which is preceded by the narrator’s exhortation regarding Emily to â€Å"Let her be. We will write a custom essay sample on I Stand Here Ironing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † The narrator says this because she does not take full responsibility for the outcome of Emily’s life. The Great Depression had left its mark, creating massive poverty and unemployment. Being unemployed and without any financial relief the narrator is left to face the world alone This meant Emily was to face her own world alone for most of her childhood while her mother struggled to keep a job. The war created fear in America, even with a victory of WWII the proceeding Cold War only made it worse. The narrator feels somewhat cheated that the world Emily was raised in was a cruel and harsh one. Though the narrator blames society and the world for the way Emily is she also blames herself. She takes responsibility for some of the things that had gone wrong in Emily’s life, but tells herself that she had no choice but to work late hours and lose her time with Emily. Through all this Emily grew up to be gloomy with a lack of popularity, and low self-esteem. The narrator though chooses to describe Emily as a sensitive, thoughtful, and selfless individual who has survived through a terrible ordeal. Emily is blind to anything positive about herself; instead she chooses to hide in the shadow of her younger sister Susan. Who in Emily’s eyes is everything she is not, this creates a sad and depressing atmosphere for Emily. The narrator sees a spark of hope though in her youngest child Ronnie, she feels that see can write her wrongs in him and fix what she has broken in herself. With Emily grown up she doesn’t see any opportunity to fix what is wrong, though she also releases that she must let Emily be. Even though Emily has had a grim life there is still hope from all that has happened, Emily has gifts, which she can use to bring the better out in herself. In the ending paragraph the author feels resentment and cold for everything that has happened to Emily, but she also sees a glimmer of hope in her future. The atmosphere and setting have contributed a lot to the theme of the story. They have created a deeper sense in the raising of a child on your own. This story doesn’t hide the pain a mother gave her child or the pain the child caused the mother, it lets people see things in a different light, a light in which is dim and gloomy.

Advice on Writing an Effective Personal Statement

Advice on Writing an Effective Personal Statement Definition A personal statement is an autobiographical essay that many colleges, universities, and professional schools require as part of the admissions process. Also called a  statement of purpose, admissions essay, application essay, graduate school essay, letter of intent, and goals statement. The personal statement is generally used to determine a students ability to overcome obstacles, achieve goals, think critically, and write effectively. See Observations and Recommendations below. Also see: Compose a Narrative Essay or Personal StatementCritical ThinkingIllustrationNarrationPersonal EssayPersonal LetterRevision and Editing Checklist for a Narrative Essay Observations and  Recommendations Get good advice[T]he essay or personal statement began as a gauge of student enthusiasm (Why in particular do you wish to attend Bates College?). Over the years, it has been called upon to do other work: to capture how the applicant thinks; to reveal how he or she writes; to uncover information about values, spirit, personality, passions, interests, and maturity. . . .Admissions officers, counselors, teachers, and students in my survey rated what matters most in an application essay. All four groups agreed that the most important criteria are correctness, organization, specific evidence, and an individual style. . . .As an applicants best chance to plead his or her own case, the essay is a valuable piece in the admissions puzzle. Students need the advice of someone who knows them well to put together a convincing case, and parents are great resources, with their firsthand information about and commitment to their children.(Sarah Myers McGinty, The Application Essay. Chronicle of Hig her Education, January 25, 2002) Get startedIts difficult for most people to write about themselves, especially something personal or introspective. The following suggestions may help your creative juices to flow.Consult friends and relatives for ideas. . . .Take inventory of your unique experience, major influences, and abilities. . . .Write an experimental creative essay in which you are the main character. . . .Assemble your applications and determine how many essays you must write. . . .Get feedback from others before completing your final draft.(Mark Allen Stewart, How to Write the Perfect Personal Statement, 4th ed. Petersons, 2009) Keep it realAuthenticity is what matters in personal statements, in my experience. Strong writing and scrupulous proofreading are essential, but most of all, the topic and the expression must bring alive in the minds and hearts of the readers some aspect of the real teenager writing the statement. . . .Writing a strong personal statement calls upon you to observe your real life, a s it is, and get it on paper. Your best writing will emerge when you slow down to notice and record not just what happened, but also the small sensory details that make up the important and challenging events of your life. In a nutshell: Keep it real; show, don’t tell.(Susan Knight, director of college placement at the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Brooklyn. The New York Times, September 11, 2009) Make it relevantWith so many students getting similar grades, personal statements are often all that universities have to go on, says Darren Barker of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas). That’s why we advise applicants to take them seriously. . . .â€Å"You need to express yourself concisely and give thought to what universities are likely to regard as relevant, he says. If you have done work-shadowing in the field in which you have chosen an academic course, that’s obviously a plus. But even extra-curricular things on your CV can be worth including. . . .Personal statements are just that, personal. . . . This is about youwho you are, where you have come from and where you want to go. Bluff, spin a line, pretend you are something you are not and you will be found out.(Julie Flynn, Ucas Form: A Very Personal Statement of Intent. The Daily Telegraph, October 3, 2008) Be specificA possible area of discussion in your personal statement might be around what led you to pursue medicine as a career. You could discuss the courses, people, events or experiences that have influenced you and why. Discuss your extracurricular activities and why you participated. Tell about your educational experiences and summer internships. When doing so, write chronologically. . . .Be specific and do not exaggerate. Be philosophical and idealistic, but be realistic. Express your concern for others and share your unique experience that had a profound effect on your career choice. Express all of these things, but show your sense of value, partnership, independence and determination.(William G. Byrd, A Guide to Medical School Admission. Parthenon, 1997) FocusStatements may be weak for several reasons. The most foolish thing you can do probably is not to proofread what you write. Who wants to hire someone who turns in a statement with spelling, grammatical, or capitalization errors? An unfocused statement is also not likely to help you. Hiring institutions like to see focus, clarity, and coherence, not a stream-of-consciousness approach that seems incoherent to the reader, however coherent it may seem to you. Also, do not just say what you are interested in. Say what you have done about your interests.(Robert J. Sternberg, The Job Search. The Portable Mentor, ed. by M. J. Prinstein and M. D. Patterson. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2003) Know yourselfAdmissions officers say the most successful essays show curiosity and self-awareness. Says Cornells [Don] Saleh: Its the only thing that really lets us see inside your soul. While theres no one right formula for soul baring, there are many wrong ones. Its disastrous to write, as a Rice applic ant did, of what he could bring to the University of California. A self-absorbed or arrogant tone is also a guaranteed turnoff. Exhibit A: a Rice essay beginning, I have accumulated a fair amount of wisdom in a relatively limited time of life. Exhibit B: a Cornell applicant who set out to describe the indescribable essence of myself.(Jodie Morse et al., Inside College Admissions. Time, October 23, 2000)