ipl-logo

A Pair Of Silk Stockings Critical Analysis

1108 Words5 Pages

Kate Chopin, a famous author from the American Realism period, writes the reality of the financial pressures that surrounded the women of the 19th century. She writes the story of Mrs. Sommers, a poor mother of many children, and her struggles finding freedom in the judgemental society she lives in. Mrs. Sommers was wealthy, but recently entered a life of poverty due to harsh times. When faced with financial decisions of her family 's wants and needs, Mrs. Sommers hastily spends all the money she has on herself rather than her children who need new clothes. The setting of this story is a large city with department stores and many attractions which play into Mrs. Sommers’ temptations later on in the story. Kate Chopin’s short story, “A Pair of Silk Stockings” shares the hardships of a poor 19th century woman who defies her traditional society of modest spending and selflessness by buying expensive materials for herself after collecting a, what seems to her, large sum of money and …show more content…

Kate Chopin writes in her short story “A Pair of Silk Stockings” the rejection women faced in the way of pleasing themselves to leisures, spending money foolishly, and not putting their family and others first. Mrs. Sommers allows herself to do all of these “crimes” and blows all of her money. With this, she finds the joy of financial freedom again and wishes it will never cease. She first plans to spend the money on her kids as she is supposed to, then she unconsciously decides to spend all of the money indulging in life’s delicacies, and lastly she sees the effect the foolish spending has on her appearance to others and self esteem. With this, she finds the joy of financial freedom again and wishes it will never cease. Other poor women in the setting and time of this story did not experience this as Mrs. Sommers did. Kate Chopin allows us a glimpse into the life and desires of these women in her short story “A Pair of Silk

Show More
Related
1369 Words | 6 Pages

Unsurprisingly, this article discusses the emotions in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” S.S. Jamil shows the irony in stereotyping women as overemotional, when the conventional roles Louise Mallard lives in force her to suppress her emotions. Jamil suggests that this is the cause of Louise’s heart trouble, since psychological health does affect physical health. The self-assertion that Louise discovers is permission to be herself, since emotions are a substantial part of who we are. The narrative of this article paints Louise as the victim and society as the culprit.

Read More
358 Words | 2 Pages

Women’s Issues in the Past In both Trifles and A Doll’s House the reputation and appearances of the two women are examined within nineteenth century marriages. The men believe that the women only focus on trivial matters. These two poems are so powerful because of the metaphors, emphasis on gender roles, and tone the narrator uses to convey the way women were treated in the nineteenth century.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

In the 19th century, a group of people launched the suffrage movement, and they cared about women’s political rights, their property and their body liberty. Born in that age, Kate Chopin was aware of the importance of setting an example for those who were taken in by the reality and poor women to be an inspiration. So we call her a forerunner of the feminist author for every effort she put in advocating women’s sexuality, their self-identity and women’s own strength. When people were ashamed of talking about sexuality, Kate Chopin stood out and call for women’s sexual autonomy.

Read More
822 Words | 4 Pages

In Kate Chopin 's novel The Awakening and the short story “The Story of An Hour” feminist beliefs overshadow the value in moral and societal expectations during the turn of the century. Due to Louise Mallard and Edna Pontellier Victorian life style they both see separating from their husband as the beginning of their freedom. Being free from that culture allows them to invest in their personal interest instead of being limited to what 's expected of them. Chopin 's sacrifices her own dignity for the ideal of society’s expectations. Chopin 's sad, mysterious tone seems to support how in their era, there was a significant lack of women 's rights and freedom of expression.

Read More
632 Words | 3 Pages

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800s – a time when women were considered inferior to men. Women had traditional roles as wives and mothers. In this 19th century patriarchal society, Chopin shows us Louise Mallard, the main character, who does not comply with the female gender norms of the Victorian period. When Louise learns about the death of her husband, her reaction and the reaction of her sister and the doctor tell us a great deal about gender stereotyping during this time. Louise Mallard is described to us as “firm” and “fair.

Read More
1248 Words | 5 Pages

Leeanna Whittle Ms. Hutto English 3-1st 26 February 2016 Gender Stereotypes as far back as the 19th Century Kate Chopin is an American author who lived in the 19th century (Wyatt). Kate Chopin is known for being way beyond her time (Evans 262). She wrote about emotions and conflicts no other author of her time would ever think to write about (Evans 262). She grew up with two powerful women, her mom and grandmother, who influenced her views on society (Wyatt).

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.

Read More
727 Words | 3 Pages

Growing up as a woman has been quite difficult in this generation, however, growing up around thirty years ago must have been more difficult. Back in the 1900’s, women had different social norms to deal with in society. Women had to stay at home, be housewives, do the laundry, and cook while men went out and worked to obtain money for their family. In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, she tells the struggles that women went through back in the 1990 's and the social norms that women had to go through. Chopin addresses many instances of symbolism to portray the feeling Mrs. Mallard has about her own thoughts and experiences with or without a man in her life.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

Kate Chopin reveals how language, institutions, and expected behavior restrain the natural desires and aspirations of women in patriarchal societies. In 1894, when this story was formed, culture had its own structure on marriage and the conduct towards women. Gender roles play a major role throughout our history. They would decide whether a woman in colonial times would be allowed to join the labor

Read More
1406 Words | 6 Pages

Henrik Ibsen has used the play A Doll’s House to highlight some of the social issues and cultural norms that existed during his time, a period when society was transforming to modernity. Ibsen used the characters of Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora Helmer to perfectly depict the historical and cultural norms of the society at the time, especially in the relationship between a husband and wife. The play begins with the depiction of a seemingly happy couple who are living a bourgeois life but as it unfolds, the Helmer’s marriage would later disintegrate after the expected social conventions are rejected. Ibsen, in his play A Doll’s House rejects social conventions of his time.

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

Change is inevitable. At some point in everyone’s life, they will experience change which will be a turning point in their life. A common change is moving homes and transitioning into a new society. Living somewhere for your whole life in which you call ‘home’ is comforting and safe. Having to leave that safety blanket and beginning a new life can be intimidating and frightening.

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the three-act play, set in 19th century Norway, explores the progress of Nora’s marriage as she attempts to hide her debt and forgery from her husband. Ibsen conveyed social commentary on gender roles and societal expectations, a topic still in controversy, through the use of symbolism, irony, and dramatic elements. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen presents the problems associated with the position of women in a man’s world of business as his central focus, even if other social or individual problems become more prominent as the play progresses.

Read More
1469 Words | 6 Pages

Women in the 1890s were expected to work at home to keep their husbands comfortable and bear him children. Kate Chopin wrote most of her short stories during this time period. Her stories “A Respectable Woman” and “A Story of an Hour” show a female protagonist who want their freedom and control over their own lives. Her characters pushed the bounds of the roles that society gave them and showed the brutal reality of how women were treated in the 1890s. In “A Respectable Woman” the female protagonist Mrs. Baroda is married and lives on a plantation with her husband, who invites a friend to spend a week or two with them.

Read More
770 Words | 4 Pages

Kate Chopin introduces her main character as “Mrs. Mallard” to signify her being married. However, within her marriage, she loses herself. Being married, she took her husband’s last name and became a wife. In a way it changed her personality. She was no longer her own self, she was someone else’s “property”.

Read More
1124 Words | 5 Pages

Chopin clearly states that women felt that they lost their freedom and that they were just mere prisoners of marriage. Mrs. Mallard’s tragedy is a good example to understand that women were unhappy and depressed, since society forced them to play a secondary role, where happiness and independence cannot be achieved. Kate Chopin, in reality, lost her husband, and perhaps she wrote ‘The Story of an Hour’ to tell that she could not find freedom with her husband’s death, and that the character’s fate was the only possible way to find it, not only for herself but for most women as

Read More

More about A Pair Of Silk Stockings Critical Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document