Analysis of the short story "A pair of silk stockings"

1. “A pair of silk stockings”
Analysis

2. Kate Chopin
∗ February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904
∗ From 1892 to 1895, she wrote short
stories for both children and adults

3. Title
“A pair of silk stockings”
It refers to the fact that Mrs. Sommers feels
that she is a completely different person
after she puts the stockings on.

4. Plot
The short story “A pair of silk stockings” is about a
woman, Mrs. Sommers, who comes into the small fortune of 15
dollars. She decides to use the money to buy clothes for her
children. The narrative suggests us that Mrs. Sommers had been a
wealthy woman before her marriage, but now "needs of the present
absorbed her every faculty."
As she feels so tired, she rests at the counter where she
finds a pair of silk stockings for sale and so she is “entranced by
their smoothness”. "Not thinking at all," she disregards her plans of
buying clothes for her children and instead spends her money and
the rest of the afternoon for herself. She buys boots to go with her
stockings, gets fitted for gloves, reads expensive magazines while
lunching at a high-class restaurant, and ends her day in the
theatre.
After the play ends, she gets into the cable car to return home with
"a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never
stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever."

5. • CLIMAX
When she sees a pair of silk stocking and puts them on, everything
changes for her. She stops thinking about her owns and starts
thinking about herself.
• SETTING IN TIME AND PLACE
It takes place after the Civil War in a city from the South. 1870s.
• POINT OF VIEW

6. Mrs. Sommers
She is a conservative housewife with “little
income”. She often thinks about her family and puts them
before herself. When Mrs. Sommers first gets the money,
she thinks about all of the wonderful things she would
buy for her owns. But when she finds the pair of silk
stockings and buys it, she becomes into a different
person.

7. Themes
→Nostalgia: she wishes to return to her past life.
→Freedom: when she comes into the small fortune of 15 dollars.
→Identity: she identifies herself as mother rather than as an individual. Later she is challenged to decide
between spending the money on her children or spending the money on herself.
→Materialism: she feels a different woman by buying things, like stockings, gloves and boots.
→Repression and the need for self-assertion: she feels oppressed because she has to worry about her
family, so she cannot think about her. But when she starts to spend the money on herself, she feels
gratified.
Mood and atmosphere
Desire, Eagerness
Nostalgic
Oppressive
Quietness, fulfillment.
Sense of freedom due to the money’s possession.

8. Symbolism
 The pair of silk stocking: it represents Mrs. Sommers’ selfish
needs.
 Fifteen dollars: it stands for Mrs. Sommers confidence, self –
esteem.
 Restaurant and theater: they represent two places where rich
people could enjoy. They be easily translated into higher class. She
thought she was in a high class again. For a brief moment she is
able to forget about her life and escape in a world which is very
much different to the world she finds herself in.
 Cable car: it represents the passage back to her normal life.