A Pair Of Silk Stockings

A Pair of Silk Stockings

"A Pair of Silk Stockings" is a story about a woman who loves her children, but through an ordinary pair of stockings, realizes that she must do something for herself. The stockings gave her some freedom from just being a parent. They introduced her to a world of fantastic rewards that she greatly deserved. Mrs. Sommers didn't really change, she became a better person. The author uses imagery to describe her shopping spree and her entire day, as I will point out later on.

One day Mrs. Sommers found fifteen dollars. She thought about what she would do with the money. "She did not wish to act hastily, to do anything she might afterwards regret." (Page 505)

Mrs. Sommers first thought was to take care of her children. She always put her children first. They needed shoes, shirtwaists and a gown for her daughter. She thought, "A dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janie's shoes." "She would buy so-and-so many yards of percale for new shirtwaists for the boys and Janie and Mag. Mag should have another gown." (Page 505)

Mrs. Sommers went shopping with her fifteen dollars. She felt a little faint and tired because she had forgotten to eat lunch. She sat on a stool near a counter. Mrs. Sommers began to feel limp all over. She rested her hand on the counter. When she looked down, she realized that her hand was laying on top of a pile of silk stockings.

After examining them, Mrs. Sommers bought a pair. She got up and decided to go the upper floor where the ladies waiting rooms were. There, she took of her old stockings. She put on the new stockings. Mrs. Sommers felt really good after putting on the new stockings. She reveled in the luxury of it. The author used imagery here to let us feel what Mrs. Sommers was feeling while wearing the stockings. She decided to buy it. She wanted, "an excellent and stylish fit...and she did not mind the difference of a dollar or two more in the price, so long as she got what she desired." (Page 506) Mrs Sommers then decided that she needed gloves. After she purchased the gloves, she felt so good that she decided that "there were other places where money might be spent." Mrs. Sommers went on to buy two 'high-priced' magazines. (Page 506)

Mrs. Sommers was very hungry. She remembered that she did not have lunch. Usually she would go home to eat. Today, the "impulse that was guiding her would not suffer to entertain any such thought." (Page 508) She decided to go to the restaurant at the corner. She was never inside that restaurant. Mrs. Sommers entered, sat down and proceeded to order, "a half dozen bluepoints, a plump chop with cress, a something sweet- a crиme-frappe, a glass of Rhine wine and after all a small cup of black coffee." (Page 508) The imagery used here made you actually smell the food, as if you were there.

Mrs. Sommers took her gloves off. She read her magazine while she waited for the food. When the food arrived, "She tasted a bite, and she read a word or two and she sipped the amber wine and she wiggled her toes in the silk stockings." (Page 508) Mrs. Sommers was extremely happy and content, but she still had money left over. She decided to go to the matinee.

Mrs. Sommers made a friend with another woman in the matinee. They watched