King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: A Pair of Silk Stockings

author: Kate Chopin

genre: short story fiction

source: http://www.americanliterature.com/

published: 1896

first line: Little Mrs. Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars.




This story starts off with Mrs. Sommers finding fifteen dollars. She begins to think of the many ways she can use the money, mainly for dressing her children.
Mrs. Sommers is a bargain hunter and needs to make every penny count.



She reflects on how her neighbors talked about the better days financial wise, before she was wed and with children.

She had no time--no second of time to devote to the past. The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty. A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.

While at the store, Mrs. Sommers comes upon a pair of silk stockings on sale. She is tempted to indulge and buys them for herself. She puts them on in the ladies room. After having the pretty stockings on, she decides she need shoes to match as well as gloves. On a roll spoiling herself, Mrs. Sommers buys herself lunch at a nice restaurant and goes to see a play.


After the play is over Mrs. Sommers hails a cab. As she is driven home, she has a wish for the cab to never stop and instead drive on with her in it forever.




In this short story Mrs. Sommers is an unselfish mother, always thinking of her children. Upon finding the money, she instantly thinks of dressing her kids in nice clothing. Yet, when she sees the stockings, they are too tempting to resist.
She enjoyed living one day almost like a fantasy. At the end of the day, she doesn't want to go back home, back to her reality of being married with children and struggling financially.




Again, Chopin touches on feelings that most women can relate to. Most people want to escape the pressures of real life for just one day. Mrs. Sommers indulged in a few new items of clothing as a form of escaping the harsh reality of her poverty. I do think it is interesting that she feels no guilt at the end of the story, she simply does not want to go home. She also tries not to reflect on her past, when she was probably better off economically.

Kate Chopin (1850–1904) was born in St. Louis and, upon marriage, settled in New Orleans. The mother of six, Chopin did not begin writing until her husband’s death left her in debt. The Awakening (1899), Chopin’s best known work, was so far ahead of its time in its portrayal of a dissatisfied wife, that it was overlooked. Today Chopin is considered the forerunner of twentieth-century feminist authors.