The Inequality In Kate Chopin's A Pair Of Silk Stockings

Throughout the course of history, inequality has always been a wall that prevented the evolution of society. But as mankind fought for equality, gender is no longer a key element that can deprive people from their rights. This, however, did not occur abruptly; on the contrary, people, notably women fought to gain basic rights and engage in their community. Writers such as Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman talked about the hardships Women faced in the late 1800s to erase their status as lower than that of men. In Silk Stockings by Chopin, she reveals the story of Mrs. Sommers and her struggles to balance between temptations and responsibilities. On the other hand, Gilman talks about a woman going through mental illness and her attempts

They, however, interpret the response to this oppression differently.

Both characters suffer from internal conflicts. In “A pair of Silk Stockings" By Kate Chopin, Mrs. Sommers struggles and constantly attempts to find a balance between her family life, her responsibilities inside the house and her personal satisfaction and selfish pleasures. For instance, at the end of the story, she finally gives in to her greedy temptations thus, making her personality take a major turn. She becomes a self- centered and egocentric woman to whom money is a central motif.

Mrs. Sommers is clearly a feminist. She decides not to conform to society`s standards and break free from submissiveness and restricting beliefs. She follows the temptations of the outside world seeking a more respectable and honorable position in society. She indulges in life’s material pleasures without thinking of the consequences of her behavior. She dreads going back to her old mundane life under the pressures of poverty so she chooses to temporarily escape from the responsibilities of a rather common, miserable existence to enjoy some of the finer things in life and let go of society’s expectations of a wife and mother. Chopin writes : “She was not thinking at all. She seemed for the time to be taking a rest from that laborious and fatiguing function and to have abandoned herself to some mechanical impulse that directed her actions and freed her of responsibility.” Therefore, Even though it only last for a day, Mrs. Sommers was finally able to escape her tough reality to a better life where she doesn’t have to worry about money. Contrastingly, the unnamed narrator of yellow wallpaper failed to escape her confining society. Instead, she dove deeper into depression and madness which comes to prove that society’s norms and close-minded beliefs can destroy someone’s life. For instance,