A Pair of Silk Stockings Summary & Analysis

The opening reveals that Mrs. Sommers is of central importance to this story. There is no account of place or time, or even an explanation of where she got the money—instead, the story is squarely focused on her thoughts and feelings. At first glance, Mrs. Sommers seems shallow, as she is preoccupied with money and self-importance. However, the admission that she is a woman of little means who has not felt significant or meaningful for many years paints her as a sympathetic character.

Mrs. Sommers seems like a modest and sensible woman; she is dedicated to her family and longs to provide the best for her children. She is clearly quite stretched by her chores and duties because she is thrilled by the idea of reducing her workload a little. Accomplished in all the feminine skills necessary for the successful running of a household, and selflessly committed to the needs of her family above her own, Mrs. Sommers perfectly embodies the late nineteenth-century social vision of working-class domesticity.

Mrs. Sommers’s distaste for thinking about the past suggests that she doesn’t want to think about the loss that she has endured. By suggesting that Mrs. Sommers has had to sacrifice the access she once had to a plush life, Chopin highlights the precariousness of women’s lives in the late nineteenth-century. Women rarely inherited family wealth, and were often pressured into unhappy marriages in order to secure their futures.

The beginning of the shopping trip reveals the extent to which married life is taking its toll on Mrs. Sommers. She is a depleted woman, exhausted by the emotional and physical demands of motherhood and family life. Meanwhile, the militarized language likens Mrs. Sommers and her forthcoming shopping trip to a soldier preparing for battle. Mrs. Sommers approaches bargain hunting as if it were an exhausting fight; it requires methodical planning, strategy, and great mental and physical strength. For poor women like Mrs. Sommers, budget constraints make these extreme measures necessary.

This climactic moment symbolizes an important shift in Mrs. Sommers as she begins to escape from the confines of her ordinary life. This turning point also marks a sort of sensual awakening of Mrs. Sommers’s innermost desires. Despite her better judgment, she cannot resist the beauty of the stockings and eventually gives into temptation. The simile here, likening the stockings to a serpent, is a stark allusion to the account of original sin in the Bible’s creation story, whereby a serpent entices Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in Eden. Unlike Eve, however, who is punished and shamed for her deviance, Chopin seems to reward Mrs. Sommers by presenting the stockings as the key to unlocking her long-repressed desires. Modest, humble, virtuous Mrs. Sommers experiences an exciting rush of desire, embodied by the feverish blush adorning her cheeks. The sensuous language surrounding the stockings connotes female sexuality, a concept that nineteenth-century society rejected as offensive and immoral. By permitting Mrs. Sommers to give into temptation, Chopin counters this prevalent belief and suggests that women can —and should— embrace pleasure and value their own wants and needs above those of their husbands.

Mrs. Sommers’s unorthodox behavior—of impatiently changing her stockings right then and there in the store—illustrates her newfound craving for self-gratification. In an extension of the serpent imagery connected with the silk stockings, here Mrs. Sommers peels off her old stockings, as if shedding the skin of her old identity. Her transformation is complete when she puts on her new silk stockings. The simple act of taking a moment to relax in a comfortable chair symbolizes how she is now motivated not by the needs and expectations of others, but by her own pleasure.

Mrs. Sommers enjoys a newfound sense of self-confidence as she exerts the authority afforded to her through her spending power over the clerk. However, the fact that she still finds it difficult to recognize her own beauty—having trouble believing that her fashionably clad feet truly belong to her—reveals her low self-worth. In this passage, Chopin interrogates the seductive appeal of consumerism, which promises women a certain brand of femininity, self-expression, and social esteem, if they can only keep up with the latest fashion trends.

The deceptive and dissatisfying nature of American consumerism is revealed when it becomes clear that Mrs. Sommers is not finding lasting happiness in her purchases. Instead, she has been lured into parting with her precious dollars by the fleeting thrill she receives with each purchase. Further, it becomes clear that Mrs. Sommers carries her magazines without wrappings and hikes up her skirt to reveal her boots and stockings so that everyone can see her luxurious purchases; this suggests that approval and acceptance are motivating factors behind her imprudent behavior. Note that she does not seek approval from men, but is rather more concerned with fitting in with fashionable women and, more broadly, the social class of the “well-dressed multitude.”

The image of Mrs. Sommers outside of the restaurant, looking in, is a poignant reminder of her position as an outsider. Mrs. Sommers longs to belong to the fashionable middle class but has not recently had the means—or the confidence—to enter their glamorous world. However, her external transformation, and the growing self-assurance it has brought her, culminates in her bold decision to enter the restaurant.

Mrs. Sommers’s excessive and leisurely lunch is a far cry from her ordinary, modest, and busy life, and she savors every moment of it. The allusion to the royal family suggests that Mrs. Sommers feels acknowledged and admired. However, her newfound social acceptance is conditional; as she orders dish after dish at the restaurant, readers are reminded that her budget must surely soon reach its limits, and that her performance is unsustainable.

Mrs. Sommers’s new class signifiers—her magazines, clothes, and presence in the theater—have bought her social capital. It is clear that the well-dressed women have assumed that Mrs. Sommers belongs to their social set, but that her acceptance hangs precariously on her outer appearance and behavior. Chopin exposes the absurdity of American consumerism, and the superficiality of the social class system, when Mrs. Sommers (a poor, working-class nobody), is able to rub shoulders with the wealthy and fashionable without them realizing her true identity. Had this been an ordinary day for Mrs. Sommers, she would have presumably faced judgment and rejection from the very same woman who now shares her sweets with Mrs. Sommers. Although Mrs. Sommers enjoys her theater experience with the women, her sense of belonging is ultimately an illusion.

The cable car voyeur tries desperately to understand Mrs. Sommers, reducing her to her body and exterior appearance. Mrs. Sommers pays no notice of him, however, as she is far busier dreading her inevitable return home. She will shortly be required to resume her household duties and devote herself once more to her exhausting responsibilities, a life that is perhaps no longer enough for her after her day of luxury.