![]() ![]() Paradoxically, her care and diligence seem to be unnoticed her housework is constantly taken for granted by her family, who apparently only establish communication with the narrator to scold and warn her of the possible consequences of getting distracted from her daily routine. The narrator highlights the importance of her task, her responsibility to her family, who are expecting her contribution to the domestic tasks, so that they can wear freshly ironed clothes every morning. Thus, the narrative voice does not complain about the absence of love in her family but their lack of time to express it, a working routine that makes her feel abandoned and alienated from the other members of the family. The second stanza recalls memories of an always busy mother, doing strenuous domestic work that occupies a precious time her daughter claims as hers. The memory of this narrator, undoubtedly Alvarez’s alter ego, moves to the fore images of her father’s back “cramped and worried with work,” of “the collapsed arms” waiting to be hugged by his loved ones in the first stanza or part of the poem. The clothes she irons still carry the imprint of overworked bodies, yelling for a long night’s rest and showing the history of a long life of effort and hard labor. The domestic scene is transformed into a time of longing and reflection upon the history written on the family’s bodies. She presses the wrinkles of her parents’ clothing, trying to liberate them from their problems, pains, and conflicts while she maps her childhood in a household too busy for love. ![]() These sketches deal exactly with doing the family housework: she sweeps, dusts, makes the beds, does laundry, and, in this story, irons the laundry of her family both literally and symbolically. The first part of Homecoming, entitled “Housekeeping,” to which “Ironing Their Clothes” belongs, is composed of sketches. Alvarez creates an alter ego to review her childhood, contemplating it from the distance that age provides. The collection is narrated by an adult female voice trying to recompose scenes from her childhood and coming to terms with current events in her present life. This poem-a short story in prose-first appeared in an issue of the journal 13th Moon, devoted to American women’s writing. “Ironing Their Clothes” belongs to Homecoming, the first poetry collection published by Julia Alvarez, a collection of narrative poems that focus on domestic life, where the author uses family images to reconstruct her family’s past. “Alvarez’s honest grappling with her caught-between-two-cultures experience is compelling.Analysis of Julia Alvarez’s Ironing Their Clothes “Fascinating, exhaustively researched.”- The Washington Post “ brings a critical eye to long-held myths… Each page is a love song to the cultural ties that bind generations of women from a diverse group of countries.”- Chicago Sun-Times “A journey into experiencing a vital, exuberant ritual of modern Latino life… As an author, Alvarez is a terrific tour guide.”- The Seattle Times Alvarez’s novelistic eye makes Once Upon a Quinceañera an intimate, intoxicating read.”- San Francisco Chronicle ![]() “Una novela con un tremendo poder… un libro bello y valiente.”- West Coast Review of Books “Maravilloso… una narración enriquecedora… entrelaza hábilmente la realidad y la ficción hasta alcanzar un sobrecogedor clímax.”- Newsweek “Un regalo de amor sinfónico y espléndido… un magnífico tesoro para todas las culturas y todos los tiempos… una novela que celebra la corriente de vida que fluye entre las mujeres, conectándolas y dándolas coraje para luchar por la justicia y la resistencia, y corazones para amar y perdonar libremente… Julia Alvarez es una escritora asombrosa.”- St. Alvarez nos hace un regalo cargado de rara generosidad y coraje.”- The San Diego Union-Tribune “Un libro importante… emocionalmente sobrecogedor. ![]()
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