Feminism in Kate Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings”

by Shawn Hassen

There are varying degrees of feminism (see my previous post explaining the key tenets of this worldview), and Kate Chopin's "A Pair of Silk Stockings", while not the author's boldest commentary, delivers a strong message.

Theme: Alienation of Women

Kate Chopin conveys a powerful feminist message in this short story. She begins by introducing and continuing to name the protagonist only in terms of her married surname, implying that her identity and value to society is linked solely to her husband. She goes on to create sympathy for Mrs. Sommers’ sacrificial lifestyle. By marrying, she apparently took a significant cut in net worth. Now, not only does she have to make do with far less than she was previously accustomed to, but the small income that she has must be fastidiously budgeted to provide for the children.

Chopin makes it clear that the sacrifices Mrs. Sommers makes by being a wife and mother are exhausting, so she deserves a spree in town where she can finally pamper herself. The sobering commentary, however, comes at the very end of the story. As Mrs. Sommers travels toward home, we see that she dreads her future and wishes that she could, in fact, not return home. With this ending, Chopin claims that marriage and motherhood are an oppressive strain on women, robbing them of the freedom to live for themselves.

The Story’s Correlations/Contrasts to Scripture

The one aspect that resonates with the biblical view of a fallen world is that sacrifice is hard for people living under the curse. We absolutely do not love sacrificially as we were created to, so we do find ourselves exhausted sometimes by family relationships. But this is true of both women and men. Some men sacrifice little, leaving women to sacrifice more and grow weary. Some women sacrifice little, leaving men to sacrifice more and grow weary. Husbands, wives, moms, dads—everyone wants a “day off” sometimes.

But a day off is different than a life off. This story presents a world where marriage and motherhood are social institutions that deprive women of freedom to do as they please. This type of “freedom” does not exist in this world. People living in modern civilization have responsibilities: taxes, food, shelter, utilities. Freedom from does not exist. Furthermore, why does the protagonist want freedom in this story? We don’t see any evidence that she wants to build a business that employs people, or that she wants to go to school, or that she wants to serve the community. She wants money and the time to enjoy it.

God did not create us to live by ourselves or for ourselves. He does not plan that all of his children will marry, but he does plan for all of his children to live in community. Community involves sacrifice, which is actually central to the biblical definition of love. Love is a giving, not a receiving. When friends and married couples love sacrificially, then both are experiencing freedom to. Freedom to help, freedom to sacrifice, freedom to enjoy. In a fallen world, we love imperfectly, and this causes strain in marriage. And we know from the beginning of time that men and women struggle to understand one another at times, but to say that marriage and parenthood are oppressive, damaging institutions is absolutely unbiblical, as is the notion that rejecting family in favor of wealth and luxury is the definition of freedom.

Is there arguably a historic context to this story? Certainly, marriage looked different in the nineteenth century than in more recent times. It is fair to say that a wife and mother in historic times might have more readily felt that her identity was eclipsed by family—but women can feel that today, as well, which is why it is important to come back to the facts. A woman’s (or man’s) identity is found in Christ, not in each other or in children. Marriage (and the family) were created by God and therefore sacred. And love is to be other-centered, not self-centered. There will be days when we fail, our children fail, our spouses fail—but family is a wellspring of life, not an oppressive burden.