Mrs. Sommer's Silk Stockings (Senseless Shopping Spectacle)

"A dollar and ninety-eight cents," she mused aloud. "Well, I'll take this pair." She handed the girl a five-dollar bill and waited for her change and for her parcel. What a very small parcel it was! It seemed lost in the depths of her shabby old shopping-bag.

Mrs. Sommers after that did not move in the direction of the bargain counter. She took the elevator, which carried her to an upper floor into the region of the ladies' waiting-rooms. Here, in a retired corner, she exchanged her cotton stockings for the new silk ones which she had just bought. She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself, nor was she striving to explain to her satisfaction the motive of her action. 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.

How good was the touch of the raw silk to her flesh! She felt like lying back in the cushioned chair and reveling for a while in the luxury of it. She did for a little while. Then she replaced her shoes, rolled the cotton stockings together and thrust them into her bag. After doing this she crossed straight over to the shoe department and took her seat to be fitted.


She was fastidious. The clerk could not make her out; he could not reconcile her shoes with her stockings, and she was not too easily pleased. She held back her skirts and turned her feet one way and her head another way as she glanced down at the polished, pointed-tipped boots. Her foot and ankle looked very pretty. She could not realize that they belonged to her and were a part of herself. She wanted an excellent and stylish fit, she told the young fellow who served her, and she did not mind the difference of a dollar or two more in the price so long as she got what she desired.


In this passage, the inner conflict (and resolve of the conflict) of Mrs. Sommer is revealed, as she struggles with the choice between practicality (and selflessness) and luxury, something that is (and was, in Chopin's era) common between middle-class women, as Chopin artfully creates this almost comical scene of a middle-class woman with the choice between these two options. Of course, her desire for something greater than she has ever had- the longing to be stylish and fashionable and comfortable- wins out over her resolve, and she goes on this great shopping binge. In this excerpt from the passage, he buys silk stockings (and spends quite a while in the dressing room), and later kidskin gloves, fashion glossies, and an expensive lunch.
I think this work by Chopin is relatable to many of today's women, who on shopping trips to anywhere for milk or toilet paper or whatever, are bombarded by advertisements to "indulge a little- eat Godiva truffles!," and "have a little 'me' time- shave with Venus Gillette Goddess razors!" and, of course, the iconic L'Oreal "Because you're worth it" slogan. The media today, as well as in Chopin's time (though through a different way) bombards middle class women, forcing them to choose between indulgence and practicality.