29 pages • 58 minutes read
Kate ChopinA Pair of Silk Stockings
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1897A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Silk Stockings
The silk stockings are the major symbol and are emblematic of the moral dilemma of the story, highlighted by the title. Mrs. Sommers’s accidental discovery and purchase of the stockings is the catalyst for all the other indulgences of the day, and the sensation of feeling them seemingly breaks down her previous ability to negate her own needs.
The title “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is significant in setting up expectations on the part of the reader, especially given the story’s publication in Vogue where these and other more luxurious items of fashion were displayed, advertised, and discussed. In the context of high fashion, a pair of silk stockings might seem a rather paltry item and not much of an indulgence at all. The title might lead the reader to expect a light-hearted story, or perhaps a risqué one. The choice of silk stockings is therefore symbolic of how the application of significant moral questions may revolve around small everyday choices and items. The fact that the stockings represent a serious temptation for Mrs. Sommers highlights the level of her privation and juxtaposes with the luxurious and aspirational context of Vogue.
Silk stockings are also a very personal item and in the 1980s would have been hidden from view by long skirts and footwear (women were expected not to show their legs or feet). The only person who sees the stockings is the clerk who fits Mrs. Sommers for shoes. Only Mrs. Sommers knows that she is wearing them and the sensual delight she feels when putting them on is a private emotion. The knowledge that she is wearing them propels her forward to treat herself in other ways: She grows in confidence and self-worth. In this way the intimate nature of the stockings makes them a symbol of Mrs. Sommers’ reclaimed inner sense of self.
Lunch
Mrs. Sommers’s habitual self-neglect causes her, at times, to disregard her sleep or even to forget to eat, and this is symbolic of Mrs. Sommers’s complete lack of attention to self and total focus on her family. Typically, when she remembers to feed herself, it is only to swallow “anything that [is] available” (Paragraph 18). She does not eat for enjoyment or even satiety; she eats, simply, so that she can keep moving. However, on this day of gratification, “the impulse that was guiding her would not suffer her to entertain any such thought” (18). Thinking only of her “crav[ing]” for something “tasty,” she selects a fashionable restaurant and treats herself to a flavorsome meal of oysters, meat, salad, wine, dessert, and coffee.
Again, her physical body overwhelms any thoughts of money or family, as she hears the “soft, pleasing strain of music,” feels the “gentle breeze,” “taste[s]” her food, “sip[s] the amber wine and wiggle[s] her toes in the silk stockings,” evidently pleased with it all (21). Her physical desire for comfort and satisfaction has, for the first time in a long time, prompted her to sit and enjoy a meal rather than a merely edible “snack” of whatever might be to hand at home. And the gratified feeling is accompanied by the waiter’s bowing to her “as before a princess of royal blood” (21). This description helps to emphasize how much her very demeanor has changed since the beginning of the day—now she’s been relieved of responsibility for others and allows herself to be guided by an indulgent impulse—because of its contrast with her earlier sense that considering a pair of silk stockings was akin to mulling over the purchase of a crown. With a few new things for herself, and full of delectable foods, her entire bearing has changed. This lunch, nourishment for her body, is thus symbolic of the nourishment Mrs. Sommers needs as a person and not just a mother, and it shows the substantial effect that feeding the inner person can have.
Mrs. Sommers’s Name
Mrs. Sommers’s surname comes from the old German word sumar which means summer. Summer is often associated with youth, when one is at their peak and optimistic about the future. The name’s symbolism is perhaps ironic, as Mrs. Sommers’s best days occurred in her youth, “before she had ever thought of being Mrs. Sommers” (4). Coming into possession of $15 returns her to that time, as the money “gave her a feeling of importance such as she had not enjoyed in years” (1). The money transports her into a state in which she no longer has to care about anyone but herself, and she takes full advantage of the freedom and luxury that money brings.
Mrs. Sommers’s name also symbolizes her lack of identity. She is never given a first name, implying that her personal identity is less important than her roles as a mother and wife. That Sommers is her married name is important because, though her husband is absent in the story, his identity still overshadows her own. Despite the elation it brings, spending the money only briefly returns Mrs. Sommers to the carefree luxury of her former life. When she returns home, she will once again be defined by her husband and children.
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