The Character of Mrs. Sommers in Chopin’s A Pair of Silk Stockings

Mrs. Younger lived a lower end lifestyle. She tried to work for her family but it was a different time than today, and people had different ideas based on the time that they lived in. The time in which the

Kate Chopin again writes another short story with a way of getting the attention of the reader in a short period of time. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is based in early to mid 1900's in a average town. Shops, a theater and such lies in the center of town. The author tells of a widowed mother that is not so well off, that discovers a sum of money and is taken away in her own shopping spree and perhaps her own dreams.

Indeed, the early part of the film portrays an accurate depiction of society at the time, without overt prejudice or obsession with issues (which are dealt with in the narrative later). The society on show in DeMille's classic is one at the hands of an invasion by consumerism where, "[w]hether social activist or flapper, the `new woman' expected to function in both public and private spheres despite controversy regarding the nature of her role" . This movement came to be characterised by, "how expensive and fashionable...the garments [are] that the wife wears" . As Thorstein Veblen argues, "goods, especially clothing, were acting as a

Once inside the store, Sylvia can no longer ignore the blinding imparity between the rich and the poor. Her discovery of an overly priced toy clown prompts her to consider what could be bought for its price: "Thirty-five dollars could buy new bunk beds for Junior and Gretchen’s boy. Thirty-five dollars and the whole household could go visit Granddaddy Nelson in the country. Thirty-five dollars would pay for the rent and the piano bill too" (605). Sylvia is forced to finally address the socioeconomic inequality that works against her while simultaneously conferring certain luxuries on the rich: "Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it?" (605).

He will avoid buying clothes for himself so his children are able to have new clothes, and thus are not to seem impoverished and have his family face societal criticism. (20) The text clearly displays the father as a man who puts the needs of his family above all, however, in this he makes missteps and causes a disastrous financial pitfall. His spending is close to erratic, but shows love as his reasoning for this. When the father wins the ten-thousand dollars off the scratch-off, he discusses with his wife what to with it, and in this he turns down a possibility to pay off debts and allow a more secure financial position to give Lilly a splendid birthday. (15) All in all, this irrational fiscal behavior is the unfortunate side-effect of his drive to achieve a life of comfort and luxury for his family, and this is most clearly displayed in the Semplica Girls. The father purchases the Semplica Girls not out of interest for himself, but to help his daughter Lilly’s social perception, as they want her to “enter high school as confident young woman, feeling her family as good/affluent as any other family”. (24) He glances over the morality and the frivolous nature of the purchase to aid his daughter’s self-development.

Kate Chopin and Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette create the theme of obedient love and the discontentment in life that is to follow. This is important in both stories because both Mrs. Mallard and the wife in “The Hand” are virtuous, submissive wives who doubt their marriage and question their love for their significant other. Although the wife in “The Hand” has only been married for a short period of time, about two weeks, she comes to the realization that she has made a mistake in getting married as an adolescent. The wife starts out excited about her new life to someone she barely knows but loves. As she lays in bed unable to sleep, she notices and admires his features in great detail. “To herself she also praised his mouth, full and likable, his skin the color of pink brick, and even his forehead, neither noble nor broad, but still smooth and unwrinkled” (Colette 275). This feeling does not last long before her view of him changes to that of disgust as she notices his hand take on a “vile, apelike appearance” (Colette 275). Mrs. Mallard has been married for quite some time and has lived her life through her husband. She endures an obviously unsatisfying marriage that is defined by “a powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

First, numerous people especially women in the early 1900s fall into others’ expectations upon and before their marriage. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “A Shameful Affair”, two of their main characters are women, and they both fall into societal expectations about them where they later lose their freedom. For example, in “A Pair of Silk Stocking”, Chopin targets the social expectation upon one’s marriage where she describes the usual mother’s responsibilities by saying “A dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janie’s shoes, which would insure their lasting an appreciable time longer than they usually did” () As Chopin utilizes imagery, this infers an image of what Mrs. Sommers plans to do as a mother, who she carefully plan her money to buy new clothes for her children. Moreover, the word “insures” means to arrange compensation for damage that is done to the event, whereas the word “appreciable” means large enough to be noticed. Yet, both connotes a stable lasting which further reveal that one of the mother’s roles that is expected by the society is to know how use the money wisely for their children without falling in debt. Thus, the responsibilities of a mother have overloaded her where she later turn in self-indulgent. Likewise, Chopin not only portrays how women fall into others’ expectations upon their marriage yet they also fall into it before their marriage. In the short story “A Shameful Affair”, the author describes the primary character as Mildred Kraummer, who she falls in love with the one of the farmhands. While Mildred meets him fishing, they accidentally give a kiss where the author narrates “He kissed her lips… Shame

A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman

In a short story by Katherine Mansfield called “The Doll’s House,” there is a social barrier between a family with less that is struggling to make ends meet and a flourishing family, that appears to not have any difficulties getting through life. The Kelvey family, whose hard-working mother makes the best of life that she can by crafting clothing from materials she can salvage from the wealthy clients’ houses she cleans. The Burnell family, who is getting through life with ease because of their position in the wealthy class, is the complete opposite in lifestyles. The short story “The Doll’s House” suggests society is unfair to the people with less and that possessions play a part in the deciding factor whether people will be your friend, but it only takes one person to break from the social expectations.

She selfishly praised quilts as "priceless" (91) whereas she thought the same piece was old fashioned and out of style when offered to her for college. By carrying the quilts she claims to carry the heritage, however, she shuns the lifestyle of her family, which is of course a part of her heritage.

Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition; thus, her sister Josephine gently and carefully breaks the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Richards, a close friend of Mr. Mallard, is the first to discover the news of Mr. Mallard’s railroad tragedy. When hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard collapses in grief into her sister’s arms and retreats upstairs into her room. While her sister begs Mrs. Mallard to open the door, Mrs. Mallard reflects on her feelings. She sinks into an armchair facing an open window noticing the “new spring life, the delicious breath of rain in the air, the peddler in the street crying his ware, the notes of a distant song which someone was singing and countless sparrows twittering in the eaves” (Chopin 556). This signifies a new blossoming life: a life that she would live for herself. Although her husband is loving, and she knows that she will weep again when she sees his dead body, she realizes how confined marriage is for her. Robert Evans, author of “Literary Contexts in Short Stories: Kate Chopin's “‘The Story of an Hour,’” claims that Mrs. Mallard looks forward to a bright future rather than a dreadful life. She becomes aware that she must live alone rather than being imprisoned by marriage. As these thoughts circulate in her mind, she keeps whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 557).By conveying the story through Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, Chopin portrays how women actually feel compared to what they present in society. While Josephine and society expect Mrs. Mallard to be grieving, Mrs. Mallard is actually looking forward to the days ahead of her: “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 557). When Mrs. Mallard discovers that the news of her husband’s death was inaccurate, Mrs. Mallard dies from a heart attack after seeing her husband alive. The

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full

In the early 19th century the men of society were dominant, they were considered the caregivers and are responsible for the actions of their women. When a woman would get into trouble they would be sent to their husband or father to be punished. Kate Chopin unlike many women did not have a male figure in her life. As an author she still had to prove herself to society that she was a good writer. Most female writers of that century wrote under a male name so they could be published, Kate Chopin wanted to be known for her work. Mrs. Mallard searches for freedom within her life. She feels trapped in her marriage, and her husband's death is her ticket to freedom. Kate Chopin shows Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom through the use of irony.