Analysis Of A Pair Of Silk Stockings

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A Literature Analysis of “A Pair of Silk Stockings”:
Mrs. Somers or Mrs. Chopin?

"A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin tells the tale of a woman who ventures out to purchase clothing for her children, but impulsively decides to spend the money on herself, showing expensive taste. In reading the story, one must ask if "A Pair of Silk Stockings" was a metaphor for Chopin's own life after her husband’s untimely death. In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Sommers, a poor and rather homely woman in the 1890’s, comes into the possession a significant sum of fifteen dollars. After spending several days considering how to spend the money, she finally decides to spend it on clothing for her children. That all changes with the purchase of a single pair of silk stockings. Instead of buying what she intended, she proceeds to spend the entire amount on herself. Her purchases include things that make her appear to be a woman of high society.
Sommers, after carefully planning out how to spend the money suddenly spend it all on herself in a fruitless effort to become that woman she once was? Because that was all Chopin wanted.

Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. “A Pair of Silk Stockings.” PBS.org, n.d., www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/silkstockings.html. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
Stein, Allen. "Kate Chopin's 'A Pair of Silk Stockings': The Marital Burden and the Lure of Consumerism." Short Story Criticism, edited by Jelena O. Krstovic, vol. 139, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=nhmccd_main&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1420101024&it=r&asid=109e9af133e4f9e9d2e4f14e1fc9100b. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017. Originally published in Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 3, Summer 2004, pp. 357-368
Toth, Emily. “A Writer, Her Reviewers, and Her Markets.” Kate Chopin, Updated Edition, Chelsea House, 2007. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/47321?q=Kate chopin a pair of silk stockings. Accessed 30 Oct.

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