I Stand Here Ironing Language and Communication Quotes

"I wish you would manage the time to come in and talk with me about your daughter" (1).

This question, which might be coming from a teacher or a counselor, prompts the narrator to reflect on her daughter's situation.

I do not even know if it matters, or if it explains anything. (7)

The narrator tells us she is unused to reflecting on her life. As she muses on different events, she isn't sure if the events are relevant or not.

[W]hen she saw me she would break into a clogged weeping that could not be comforted, a weeping I can hear yet. (9)

This is one of the heartbreaking scenes where the daughter, even as an infant, is trying and failing to communicate with her mother.