The Silk Stockings By Kate Chopin

In The Awakening, Kate Chopin ends the novel in a vastly different way than most authors would have at that time with her main character, Edna Pontellier, committing suicide by drowning herself. If one were to isolate this ending without any context whatsoever, it would feel tragic and depressing; however, the events leading up to her death actually explains to the readers her spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation, both of which being themes significant to the book as a whole.

First, numerous people especially women in the early 1900s fall into others’ expectations upon and before their marriage. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “A Shameful Affair”, two of their main characters are women, and they both fall into societal expectations about them where they later lose their freedom. For example, in “A Pair of Silk Stocking”, Chopin targets the social expectation upon one’s marriage where she describes the usual mother’s responsibilities by saying “A dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janie’s shoes, which would insure their lasting an appreciable time longer than they usually did” () As Chopin utilizes imagery, this infers an image of what Mrs. Sommers plans to do as a mother, who she carefully plan her money to buy new clothes for her children. Moreover, the word “insures” means to arrange compensation for damage that is done to the event, whereas the word “appreciable” means large enough to be noticed. Yet, both connotes a stable lasting which further reveal that one of the mother’s roles that is expected by the society is to know how use the money wisely for their children without falling in debt. Thus, the responsibilities of a mother have overloaded her where she later turn in self-indulgent. Likewise, Chopin not only portrays how women fall into others’ expectations upon their marriage yet they also fall into it before their marriage. In the short story “A Shameful Affair”, the author describes the primary character as Mildred Kraummer, who she falls in love with the one of the farmhands. While Mildred meets him fishing, they accidentally give a kiss where the author narrates “He kissed her lips… Shame

Kate Chopin again writes another short story with a way of getting the attention of the reader in a short period of time. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is based in early to mid 1900's in a average town. Shops, a theater and such lies in the center of town. The author tells of a widowed mother that is not so well off, that discovers a sum of money and is taken away in her own shopping spree and perhaps her own dreams.

In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, we see how much of an importance the men in Edna’s life serve as a purpose to her awakening. Chopin is known to write stories about women who are unsatisfied with their lives while living in a life that is dominated by men. Other than Edna, the main men characters are typical men of the late 19th century era. Chopin shows how these three men are diverse from one another. The Creole men are Léonce Pontellier, Edna’s husband, Robert, Edna’s mystery man number one, and Alcee, mystery man number two. Léonce, Edna’s husband, is a businessman who has no time for his family let alone his wife. Alcee comes off as carefree and does not seem to care what society thinks of him. Robert is Edna’s main mystery man who she loves but Robert doesn’t love her back. Throughout the novel, these men make Edna question herself, which lead her to her awakening. These men show how men in the late 19th century behaved. In a male dominated world, women were not allowed to do much except for be good wives and mothers to their families. Edna learned the hard way as to what it meant to be the wife of a Creole man in the Victorian era. Men expected too much of women because appearances meant everything and no man would want to have a wife who is out of line and not well behaved in public. In studying these three men in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, we see how different yet alike these men are to one another.

Pigsy, Rib of man, Piece of goods, Frail, Scupper are some of the many words that were used to describe over the last millennium, some of the words which are very offensive today. According to dictionary.com, Feminism means the advocacy of women’s right on the basis of the equality of the sexes. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Chopin expressed female oppression and feminism through Edna’s life, her choices and the people in her community. Chopin had many examples of female oppression and feminism in her novel, such as Adele Ratignolle’s life, how women were stereotyped in the society at that time, why women in the 1800s fought for their feminist rights,

Over the course of time the male species has always been the gender to attain the more favorable conditions. Numerous cultures heed to the belief that the man is the provider and head of his family. This machismo nature can condition the mind to believe that a man should feel superior to a woman. The continuous cycle of male superiority flows down from father to son subconsciously. Do to this unceasing sequence of behavior women fall subject to repression and control at the hands of mentally undeveloped men. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, illustrated this particular topic in a way that not only appealed to the readers’ sense of pathos but, the readers’ likeliness to be able to relate to the aforementioned as well. Chopin stylistically renders the struggle of the protagonist Edna Pontellier, a strong willed woman who finds herself imprisoned to the concept of trans-temporal existence, as she seeks refuge to her true being, Edna experiments relationships with multiple men that unintentionally repress her existence. Between Leonce Pontellier, Robert Lebrun, Alcee Arobin and The Colonel effect of Edna’s life they catalyze her awakening and ultimately lead her suicide.

Flannery O’Connor’s work opens up wide doors and gives direct access to the true heart

In Kate Chopin’s novel, “The Awakening”, she introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature, searching for her true identity in a society that expects women to be nothing more than just devoted housewives and nurturing mothers. In Edna’s journey of self-discovery, one must recognize the impact that other characters have had on her as well. Two characters that have had the biggest impact on Edna were Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. Even though these two women are very different, both of them greatly influence Edna’s decisions about her life. The ideas that both women presented to Edna

Women would never dream of disobeying their husbands because it had been ingrained in their brains that the act of defiance was punishable due to it being a force of rebellion. However, not every eccentric act is undoubtedly wrong. Some actions may be for the betterment of an individual that is struggling to find themselves in a sea of societal regulations. In the controversial book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Edna Pontellier loses sight of her moral responsibility, to be an obedient and loyal wife as well as a caring mother, when she starts to symbolically view her life as a nonpartisan women would.

In The Worth of Women, Moderata stated, "when it 's said that women must be subject to men, the phrase should be understood in the same sense as when we say we are subject to natural disasters...it 's not a case of being subjected in the sense of obeying, but rather of suffering an imposition" (Moderata). Throughout history, the inherent inferiority of women to men has often been cited as a way to deter women from becoming an individual and pursuing more in life. This notion is a prevalent issue in The Awakening by Kate Chopin; in which Edna fights to live her own way and is ultimately unable to survive in the cage of society. Not only has this supposed inferiority effected women for generations, but it has created

The impalpability of passion is something that causes a person to act on sentiment often times rather than perhaps, more conceptually proper ideals. In many instances, an act of passion is committed to achieve a sense of satisfaction within one’s self. This concept lends itself to the perception that societal influence does not always subjugate that of personal inclination. The feeling that generates this emotion primarily ensues actions that, due to their anomalism, can seem selfish or at times even pathetic. The word pathetic, although often having iniquitous connotation, compatible with synonyms such as worthless or shameful, takes a different turn in the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Protagonist and main character Edna

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, the main character, Edna Pontellier, has three distinct personality traits that define her throughout the book. One of her most perceptible traits is her irresponsibility, especially in how she cares for her children and husband. Related to this peculiarity, is her capacity to behave childish, particularly in terms of how she allows her emotions to sweep her away as well as her inability to think about the potential consequences. Her most prominent personality trait—the one that forms the backbone of the conflict, is Edna’s eagerness to defy society and the roles given to women. These traits are consistent throughout the novel and while the character does change by the end, these aspects never disappear. The main conflict in The Awakening is a woman’s need to have the right to act herself and live independently instead of how society 's set up what a woman should and should not do. This disagreement is amplified throughout the book as the narrator shows Edna’s “awakening” or her process of realization that she does not fit into the societies expectations. This occurs in a series of events in which Edna moves farther away from societal norms.

Kate Chopin’s controversial novel, The Awakening, ignited turmoil because of her blatant disregard of the established 19th century perspective of women upholding strictly maternal and matrimonial responsibilities. Edna’s candid exploration of the restrictions on women through her liberal behavior in a conservative Victorian society makes her a literary symbol for feminist ideals. Despite denunciation from other people, Edna chooses individuality over conformity through her veering from traditional obligations. Edna indulges in her love of art, which is considered to conflict with her expected singular devotion to her household. Exploring her sexuality rather than repressing any sexual awareness constructs her feministic mentality.

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

Kate Chopin provides her reader with an enormous amount of information in just a few short pages through her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” The protagonist, Louise Mallard, realizes the many faults in romantic relationships and marriages in her epiphany. “Great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 168). Little do Josephine and Richards know, the news will have a profoundly positive effect on Louise rather than a negative one. “When she abandoned herself,” Mrs. Mallard opened her mind to a new way of life. The word usage shows that the protagonist experienced a significant change. This life wouldn’t be compromised by her partner’s will, which will enable her to live for