[Type here] [Type here] [Type here] A pair of silk stockings Independence isn’t doing your own thing. It is doing the right thing, on your own. Women’s desire for self-fulfillment comes to view at the end of the nineteenth century. Before that, the view of women was different than it is today. Marriage was the most important thing moreover responsibility of the house management and to raise children. It is imaginable that the need of disconnection from the permanent routine was tempting. We all have our needs. That is probably also a reason why women rebelled in the end of the nineteenth century. Today women have almost exactly the same rights as men, although there are some responsibilities in a family and in a society that still belongs to women. In this lapse of time the movement of women’s rights also contained a lot of change in the worldwide literature. For example Kate Chopin, an American writer, is well known for her poetry that describes the sensitive and daring women and their role in society. One of Kate Chopin’s stories is “A Pair of Silk Stockings”, written in April, 1896 and published in Vogue on September 16, 1897. The story takes place in an unnamed place, probably a city because of the fancy restaurants, a theatre, and a cable car. There is a department store that also shows that we are in a city. It seems like a place where you can experience things such as you can nowadays when you travel. It is probably in the early 1890s because of the value of fifteen dollars that reach to more than the few things they do today. The story is written in a 3-person narration, and it is an omniscient point of view. We get to know in detail about everything the main character Mrs. Sommers does and what is going on in her surroundings. Emotions are not directly described in the text, but by her acting we can interpret us forward to her way of thinking. The mood is exiting and changes as the story progresses. The tone of the narration is distant and dreamy. [Type here] [Type here] [Type here] Mrs. Sommers is a mother who is either married or widowed. She is a caring person that always considers her children’s needs. Unexpectedly she acquires fifteen dollars, which seems like a large amount to her. For a long time she considers how to invest her fifteen dollars. This describes that she is well organized and already here at the beginning we get a feeling of the poverty she lives in. She makes a kind of calculation in her mind on how she equally is going to share the stuff between her children, which she has decided to buy. Anyway she ends up only buying stuff for herself. There is a hint that she had no financial difficulties before her marriage, “The neighbors talked of certain “better days” that little Mrs. Sommers had know before she had even though of being Mrs. Sommers.”(p.1, l.22). This is an important sentence for the story because it tells the reader that she in her earlier life had been satisfied and free. Now she is mostly focusing on the present, maybe because she is an apprehensive person. Somehow I think she is worried of the future specially when it is written: “A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.” (p.1, l.26) She is a mother searching for a balance between family life and personal satisfaction. Chopin may suggest that Mrs. Sommers first identifies herself as a mother rather than as an individual. Though later in the story we realize that the sense of identity is coming when she spend all her money on herself with a clear conscience. For each purchase she buys, the more happy and comfortable she is. The second element of Mrs. Sommers' motivation for her impulse purchases, relates to her need of raising personal autonomy. She seems to be pretending that she is living a life, which she is unfortunately not able to. In the text is written “Another time she would have stilled her craving for food until reaching her own home.” (p.3, l.103) while she is sitting in a fancy restaurant eating expensive food. It is a strange thing for her because usually she cannot afford it. She probably misses the life she had before she got married. She enjoys being free from the cravings of being a mother. [Type here] [Type here] [Type here] There is mentioned in the text, that nobody is noticing her. This is a way to criticize society. We also see it in the ending. When the play in the theater is over, a man with keen eyes is sitting opposite to her. “In truth, he saw nothing - unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever.” (p.4, l.146). Chopin is probably trying to tell us how men’s or the society’s view on women was. They need to be wizards to see her powerful longing for this free life. This sentence seems pretty ironic too because of the word “Wizard” that is somewhat exaggerated. There are many themes in the short story. One of them is women’s desire for self-fulfillment. This wide theme encompasses several themes such as the desire for luxury. Maybe Chopin wrote the story to promote the idea that women should be liberated from traditional roles and the challenges in the middle-class. Other themes, which clearly emerges are independence and temptation but also longing for the past. In the end she wants the cable car to ride with her forever. The cable car maybe symbolizes her freedom that she wishes to have forever. She wants to keep this good feeling of importance. Also we get to know that it was a long time since Mrs. Sommers had been fitted with gloves. Gloves are symbolizing status so this is another example on her remembrance of her past that she misses. Another symbol can be the silk stockings. When she realizes that she is touching the pair of silk stockings, this amazing day begins. The comfortable feeling of the silk stockings can symbolize the colors of life. The carefree pleasure, the time for thought, the time for happiness and the time thinking of oneself. As soon as she goes to the ladies' room and puts them on, she feels like being free from all responsibility. Sometimes we become imprisoned in a dull routine as we are responsible for nurturing our children and have little time for ourselves. In the 1800s this was an unusual way of thinking. In the end of the century, when the short story is written, a new attitude disseminated as we for example can see in this story. In that time it was not normal to act the way Mrs. Sommers does in the story, but Chopin makes a point of that it should be ok for women to disconnect and have some time for self-indulgence. During the twentieth century the view of women has changed much. Not only their rights but also their normal run of things as being a wife and a mother.
