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Selflessness In Kate Chopin's A Pair Of Silk Stockings

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Reese 2 In Kate Chopin’s short story “A Pair of Silk Stockings”, the protagonist Mrs. Sommers faces an internal battle about how to spend her newly acquired fortune of fifteen dollars. As a mother and a widow, she plans to spend the money on all new clothing for her well deserving children. Her struggle appears when she realizes she could potentially spend the money treating herself which she has not done since she had her kids. Mrs. Sommers selflessness has been a key component in raising her children as she grew up with money and had to adapt to a new lifestyle when they were born. “She had no time—no second of time to devote to the past. The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty” (Chopin 24-25). Mrs. Sommers must focus on what or who needs her the most; in this case, her children. From the Journal of Romanian Literary Studies, Maria-Viorica Arnautu states that “Mrs. Sommers is in the habit of sacrificing herself to the extent of depriving herself of the minimum amount of necessary nutrition and of any time dedicated to her own personal needs” (510). A perfect example of this occurs in line 35 of “A Pair of Silk Stockings” when Mrs. Sommers begins to feel lightheaded due to a lack of lunch because she was so busy feeding and …show more content…

Sommers lays her hands upon a luxury pair of silk stockings while out shopping for her kids. The sudden temptation is too much for her to resist when she learns that the “soft, sheeny luxurious things” (Chopin 47) are on sale and well within her new budget. As Mrs. Sommers was raised with money but had to readjust to a lifestyle without it when her husband passed, she finds it difficult to pass up material goods that make her feel joyous like she used to

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