Which stories are included in Tillie Olsen’s Tell Me a Riddle collection?

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Tillie Olsen’s 1961 collection, Tell Me a Riddle, includes four works of fiction that explore significant social and domestic themes:1

  • "I Stand Here Ironing": A story examining a mother’s feelings of guilt.1
  • "Hey Sailor, What Ship?": A narrative contrasting the existential emptiness of a sailor’s life with the struggles of an economically stressed family.1
  • "O Yes": A story depicting the breakdown of a biracial friendship between two girls due to peer pressure.1
  • "Tell Me a Riddle": The title novella, which portrays an elderly couple’s final approach to death through a complex lens of literary and historical allusions.1