Discuss the literary term "point of view" in reference to the "I Stand Here Ironing" and "A Rose

for
Emily."
(25 points)

When writing this paragraph, you must answer the following:

Who tells each story? Why is this narrator important? How would each story change if it were told from
a different point of view? Be sure to give examples and explain.

When an author writes a story it must first be decided through what point of view

it will be told in. “The Story and Its Writers, by Anne Charters, defines ‘point of view”:

“The perspective from which an author lets the reader view the action of a narrative;
thus, the choice of who tells the story. In first-person narration the narrator tells a story
he or she took part in or observed directly; such a narrator usually knows only what has
been explicitly revealed or what he or she has been able to deduce from that. In third-
person narration the narrator is not directly involved in the story and so views it from a
certain distance. Such a narrator may be omniscient about the characters and their
actions and motivations, or his or her knowledge may be limited to what one or a few
characters know or even to the plainly observable speeches and acts of the characters.”
(Charters, pg. 1112)

Tillie Olsen wrote the short story “I Stand Here Ironing,” in which the story is

told by a woman who is standing there, ironing. The entire story is a monologue. The

reader only gathers information from what is said and known by the narrator. This

narration is important in the story because the story pertains to a child’s life through the

eyes of her mother. The story would be completely different if it were told through

anyone else’s perspective. A mother has a particular view of her child and many times a

parent takes responsibility for events that were out of their control. This short story

allows the reader to see how a parent can be pained by the hardships suffered by their

children. This short story allows the reader to see how a parent can be joyous at their

child’s achievements.

The story, in my opinion, is for any person that has ever had a parent that had to

leave home to go to work. The story is for any person who lost hope in themselves, in
their ability to dream. The story is for any person who thought themselves to be a victim

of circumstance.

“Let her be. So all that is in her will not bloom – but in how many does it? There

is still enough left to live by. Only help her to know – help make it so there is cause for

her to know – that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the

iron.” (Charters, pg. 676)

If the story were told by any other person, it would lose much of its significance.

If the daughter told the story of her early life we wouldn’t know what she had actually

gone through. A mother is the life of her daughter long after the umbilical cord has been

cut. The daughter couldn’t have known the pain her mother felt in not being able to

shelter her and hold her throughout every moment of her life. The daughter couldn’t

have known that the mother had to choose between holding her daughter and keeping her

warm and fed.

I also think that it’s important that the story wasn’t told through a third person.

Olsen leaves the reader room to respond to the mothers words the way they’d hope her

daughter would. I know that I felt myself wanted to reassure the mother. I know that I

would have liked the daughter to appear during the story and tell the mother how much

she loved her.

Another story that leaves a lasting impression is one by the name of “A Rose For

Emily,” by William Faulkner. The point of view is written in the first person just like “I

Stand Here Ironing.” “I Stand Here Ironing,” was clearly in the first-person narration

because the monologue constantly used words like ‘I’, and ‘my’. “A Rose For Emily,”

was a little bit more tricky to figure out. The narrator is an unknown person who has
observed or heard of each account that they reveal to the reader. The narrator is not

talking about ‘a’ town, but rather ‘our’ town. The narrator is a member of the community

in which the main character resided.

“That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her. People in our town,

remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last,

believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were.”

(Faulkner, pg. 288)

What’s interesting about this point of view, or rather the perspective that Faulkner

utilizes in telling the story, is that the narrator doesn’t give their own opinions. The

narrator seems to be a spokesperson for a generally accepted view of the main characters

life.

The story would have been much different if the narrator identified them self as a

specific individual. If the narrator, for instance, were identified as a particular gender we

might color our opinions of the narrators observations according to any stereotypes the

reader has already adopted. If the narrator were identified as a man, who had once tried

to win the main characters affections, we might understand all his observations to be

tainted by his feeling of rejection.

The author allows the reader to view the story through a person who has no

particular affiliations or connections to the life of the main character. The point of view

almost seems distant enough to be third person, yet it is not.

Had the story been written through the eyes of the main character, then too much

information would have been revealed. The story wouldn’t have left the reader with a
sense of the human condition and how it can drive a person to do things that are unheard

of.

The main character in Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily,” we find at the end of the

story, has spent quite a few years sleeping in the arms of a man she poisoned to death.

The reader doesn’t need an explanation from the main character about her actions. Quite

to the contrary. Any explanations given by the main character would ruin the readers

opportunity to come to their own conclusions.

A good author uses point of view to angle the reader such that they can reach

conclusions from that vantage. It is inappropriate for an author to write the point of view

from a vantage point where a reader will find it difficult, if not impossible, to fathom the

ideas that the author is attempting to demonstrate.

Another analogy might be a parenting book written from the point of view of a

child. If the child says that a good parent gives neglects nutritional need and makes cakes

and cookies for dinner – the reader will receive the wrong message. Authors such as

Faulkner and Olsen have a talented grasp on the importance of perspective in respect to

reaching their audience. I find that their choices demonstrated well the ideas that they,

not attempted, but successfully, demonstrated in their short stories.