Everyday, people make choices that intentionally or unintentionally change the course of their and other people’s lives. These choices are ones that change the way the decision makers are seen, and the way that that person continues through life. Choices like these can be found in short stories especially, usually in order to make a statement or convey a theme efficiently. In a short story written by Tom Godwin examined here, a captain of a starship makes the choice to kill a young girl to avoid a higher cost. In another by John Updike, a teenage boy has to decide between joining his superior peers or staying in the comfort of the familiar submission. In the last by Kate Chopin, a woman must choose between living out her nostalgic fantasy or
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Sommers, in Kate Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” must face a conflict between benefitting herself or benefitting the greater good of her family; the difference between her and the previous characters being that her choice gives insight into not only her values but how her past has created them. An example of this can be seen when Mrs. Sommers is faced with the choice of purchasing silk stockings or not, does after a few moments, and the narrator states that, “She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself...She was not thinking at all” (Chopin 3). This quote displays that although Mrs. Sommers makes a decision to buy the silk stockings, and immediately after has time to think about her choice and regret it, she does not do either of these things. Instead, she simply sits in the luxurious waiting-rooms and revels. This exhibits character traits such as being instinctive, impulsive and being more present-thinking rather than forward-thinking. It also suggests that she may be slightly materialistic rather than being satisfied with her family. These traits contributed to the story’s climax and ending by causing Mrs. Sommers to act in the way that she does, and cause her to continue to buy more luxury items that benefit her rather than the items she planned to buy for her children. Another place where character traits about Mrs. Sommers can be defined is where she sees expensive magazines
Sommers, in Kate Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” must face a conflict between benefitting herself or benefitting the greater good of her family; the difference between her and the previous characters being that her choice gives insight into not only her values but how her past has created them. An example of this can be seen when Mrs. Sommers is faced with the choice of purchasing silk stockings or not, does after a few moments, and the narrator states that, “She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself...She was not thinking at all” (Chopin 3). This quote displays that although Mrs. Sommers makes a decision to buy the silk stockings, and immediately after has time to think about her choice and regret it, she does not do either of these things. Instead, she simply sits in the luxurious waiting-rooms and revels. This exhibits character traits such as being instinctive, impulsive and being more present-thinking rather than forward-thinking. It also suggests that she may be slightly materialistic rather than being satisfied with her family. These traits contributed to the story’s climax and ending by causing Mrs. Sommers to act in the way that she does, and cause her to continue to buy more luxury items that benefit her rather than the items she planned to buy for her children. Another place where character traits about Mrs. Sommers can be defined is where she sees expensive magazines