Theme Of Conflict In A Pair Of Silk Stockings

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 and Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette create the theme of obedient love and the discontentment in life that is to follow. This is important in both stories because both Mrs. Mallard and the wife in “The Hand” are virtuous, submissive wives who doubt their marriage and question their love for their significant other. Although the wife in “The Hand” has only been married for a short period of time, about two weeks, she comes to the realization that she has made a mistake in getting married as an adolescent. The wife starts out excited about her new life to someone she barely knows but loves. As she lays in bed unable to sleep, she notices and admires his features in great detail. “To herself she also praised his mouth, full and likable, his skin the color of pink brick, and even his forehead, neither noble nor broad, but still smooth and unwrinkled” (Colette 275). This feeling does not last long before her view of him changes to that of disgust as she notices his hand take on a “vile, apelike appearance” (Colette 275). Mrs. Mallard has been married for quite some time and has lived her life through her husband. She endures an obviously unsatisfying marriage that is defined by “a powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women

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.

“The Necklace” develops the theme of irony through Madame Loisel’s constant need for money and jewels. The first example of irony is when she borrows the necklace to appear wealthy, then loses all her wealth. When Madame Loisel begins to worry about how she will appear to the other wealthy people, her husband tells her to go borrow jewelry from her friend, Madame Forestier (Maupassant 4). The very

She thinks that because her friend is rich and beautiful, that her material items would extend with that wealth. Instead, it shows Madame that even the richest of people do not always have to have genuine items. Madame realizes that she does have fun at the party even if she is not wearing all authentic things, the opposite of what she thinks she is wearing. A third ironic happening, is when she has been working to pay off the money for the necklace for a decade. Madame clearly admits to her friend on page 196 how she loses the necklace, and has been paying it back for ten years. As someone is reading the story, they will find it silly how Mme. is working for something when she is usually having people, mostly her husband, do things for her. Instead, she is working to pay off the money that she has spent on a replacement necklace. The turnout of the story changes Madame’s views on how silly, textile items, are not always needed for someone to be happy.

Chopin introduces foreshadowing in the very beginning of the story. She introduces the main character Mrs. Mallard in the very first time of the story by saying, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break her as gently as possible about the news of her husband’s death.” (Chopin, 57). This quote depicts that readers are going to find out that something might happen to Mrs. Mallard. Since foreshadowing is where the author gives hints or indication of a future event that happens later in the story, this narrative hook intrigues the reader and makes them want to keep reading. This element of fiction is significant because the whole story basically revolves around Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition from the beginning of the story and ends with her dying, unfortunately. Another aspect would be the reader’s interpretation of the beginning of the story, it may be viewed literally or figuratively.

While one may strive to fulfill what they see as the good life, it often comes at the cost of our interpersonal relationships, as demonstrated in Sophocles Antigone, and in Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice. In Antigone, Kreon makes an attempt to uphold his beliefs and values to obtain what he views as the good life, and it costs him his family, while in Hobson's Choice, Henry Horatio Hobson attempted to maintain a certain standard of living so he could have a good life for himself, and it came at the cost of his daughters.

Mallard’s suppressed self that she has endured in the formalities of her life (1). Chopin continues to express how afflicted Mrs. Mallard is with her struggle to come to terms with her current state of emotions and her vision of self by describing Mrs. Mallard’s “dull eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky.” While Chopin depicts Mrs. Mallard’s glance as not being one of reflection “but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought,” it can be inferred that Mrs. Mallard is processing her self-being not on a rational level but more on her emotional stimuli.

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

Pity is a most misunderstood concept in the modern age. It is commonly termed a virtue, which enables one to properly sympathize with his fellow man and take the just actions he feels demanded of him to better the state of his pathetic peers. However, it seems that there is a more decent way of conducting one’s affairs in all aspects of life, as Ayn Rand demonstrates through her characters in Atlas Shrugged. Ragnar Danneskjold, for one, despises the ideal of needs-based rewards that Robin Hood embodies in favour of the “Trader Principle,” which urges men to hold their own minds as the ultimate standard and driving force in their economic life and their handling of love.

In paragraph eight, Chopin begins to use personification as well as imagery. Mrs Mallard “young, with a fair, calm face” (158) is sitting in the armchair with a “dull stare in her eyes” (158) which “indicated of intelligent thought” (158). Reading this, the reader can form an idea of what Mrs Mallard looks like, and we understand that there’s something going on in Mrs Mallards head, something changing everything in her mind. Mrs Mallard is still struggling to figure it out but “she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching towards her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air”. From this we understand that she is beginning to realise it, and her soul is beginning to fill with happiness of freedom, which is in all the sounds, smells and things she sees. For one moment, however, she is somewhat afraid of feeling happy about her freedom and “she was striving to beat it back with her will” (159). This shows that Mrs Mallard is a “product” of her time, and is striving to feel what is socially accepted. She realizes that society would determine her thoughts of freedom inappropriate, but she can’t stop herself from feeling that way.

In the early 19th century the men of society were dominant, they were considered the caregivers and are responsible for the actions of their women. When a woman would get into trouble they would be sent to their husband or father to be punished. Kate Chopin unlike many women did not have a male figure in her life. As an author she still had to prove herself to society that she was a good writer. Most female writers of that century wrote under a male name so they could be published, Kate Chopin wanted to be known for her work. Mrs. Mallard searches for freedom within her life. She feels trapped in her marriage, and her husband's death is her ticket to freedom. Kate Chopin shows Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom through the use of irony.

FIrst, Chopin uses location in both of her stories. In "The Story of an Hour" the location of the short story is in Mrs. Mallards home. After learning of her husbands death, "She went away to her room alone" (Story 463). Mrs. Mallard was locked away in her room alone with an "open window" and a roomy arm chair that she "sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that hauned her body and seem to reach into her soul" (Story 463). According to Hicks, in the overview of "The Story of an Hour", '"the emotion in Mrs. Mallards bedroom is indisputable, the "suspension of intelligent thought" removes from the reader the need to share in the window 's grief and instead allows him or her to remain an onlooker, as eager as Mrs. Mallard to see "what was approaching to possess her" ' (2). In "A Pair of Silk Stockings" Mrs. Sommers was buying expensive clothes for herself in stores, buying nice food at

The use of imagery is displayed heavily throughout the story to reflect the feelings of Mrs. Mallard following the news of her husband’s abrupt death. The setting outside her window is very descriptive and allows the audience to connect this imagery to the future that Mrs. Mallard is now seeing opening for her. As she is looking out of the window in her bedroom, she sees “trees that were all aquiver with new spring life” as well as sparrows “twittering in the eaves” (Chopin). This represents the joy and realization of a new life for Mrs. Mallard. She can now start over as a free woman instead of living as a man’s property trapped inside the house; this is where the woman’s place was during this period while only

My grandmother has done her share of good deeds, yet she had also done a few bad ones. In her younger days she did just about any and every thing. For example, smoking, drinking, partying and sneaking out at night. Who hasn’t tried those things? My grandmother quickly learned that, that wasn’t the lifestyle she wanted to pursue. Little did she know she had just opened up a new chapter of her life.