James 1 Tiffany James Mr.

McCauley Foundations of Criticism 16 October 2013 A Female Perspective Literature cannot be the business of a womans life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it, even any recreation, Robert Southey. Kate Chopins story A Pair of Silk Stockings, truly has a feministic view from the way Chopin wrote it to the way the main character portrays herself. Throughout the story femininity is heavily represented while masculinity plays a trivial part in the story at the very end. While in the department store Mrs. Sommers came upon a counter with silk stockings and she was asked if she wanted look at them; she smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it. This is great example because here Chopin compares something that women obviously love to something not as important, but is considered a luxury to women. A nice pair of shoes is also considered a luxury and her foot and ankle looked very pretty. She could not realize that they belonged to her and were a part of herself. Femininity can also be seen in how Chopin describes the women in the story, now she rested her elbow on the cushion of the glove counter, and a pretty, pleasant young creature, delicate and daft of touch, drew a long-wristed kid over Mrs. Sommerss hand. The words pretty, delicate, and daft and the phrase, pleasant young creature tell the reader that women are seen as helpless human being who are only good to look at. The sales woman and Mrs. Sommers show how foolishly feminine women are when both lost themselves for a second or

James 2 two in admiring contemplation of the little symmetrical gloved hand. At the very end of the story the one piece of masculinity seems to reinforce how women are seen; a man with keen eyes, who sat opposite to her, seemed to like the study of her small, pale face. Just like how the man in the story focuses on how small Mrs. Sommers face is and how pale it is reflects how women of the time were seen; and according to feminist criticism, the roots of prejudice against women have long been embedded in Western culture (Bressler pg. 147). These male views of women gave birth to the idea of what the traditional gender role was supposed to be for women. In the beginning of the story when Mrs. Sommers first finds the fifteen dollars her first instinct was to think of her children. She had decided that a dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janies shoes, which would insure their lasting an appreciable time longer than they usually did. How Mrs. Sommers automatically thinks of her children first and what is best for them is the thought process of a traditional woman. She then decides that she would (also) buy so and so many yards of percale for new shirt waists for the boys and Janie and Mag. She had intended to make the old ones do by skillful patching. Her willingness to sit there and patch up clothing is also something a traditional woman would do. She also knew the value of bargains; who could stand for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired object that was selling below cost. She would elbow her way if need be; she had learned to clutch a piece of goods and hold it and stick to it with persistence and determination till her turn came to be served, no matter when it came. A traditional woman knows how to maneuver in a store to get what she needs. However, this story is not completely traditional; it has times when Mrs. Sommers acts out of character to the traditional woman. While in the shoe store she was fastidious. The clerk could not make her out; he could not reconcile her shoes and stockings, and she was not easily

James 3 pleased. A woman of the house would have been easily pleased and she would not have wasted money on frivolous things like stockings and shoes. An awareness of gender affects my interpretation of the text and its meaning in way I would not have really thought about before. Before being aware I would have just thought oh, it is another story about a woman going shopping and treating herself and wasting money. However, now I see it as a woman who never does anything for herself and always thinks of others first. She just wanted to treat herself to something nice and that is ok. Feminism as a whole in this story is quite strong and prevalent. It is easy for the reader to pick up on the fact that Chopin writes in a way that makes people stop and think about what womens roles in society really are. The text challenges the reader to realize that traditional gender role still exist, but are slowly changing and evolving.

James 4 Works Cited Bressler, Charles. Psychoanalytic Criticism. Literary Criticism. 5th ed. United States: Pearson Eucation, Inc., 2011. 123 - 142. Print. Chopin, Kate. A Pair of Silk Stockings.