Sunday, August 26, 2012

Is there any foreshadowing in "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin?

The shopping trip that Mrs. Sommers takes, where she acts so out
of her character, is foreshadowed by the way in which she arrives at the store so tired and
exhausted, not having had any lunch, and sits down in something of a daze and begins to stroke
something on a nearby table with her hand. When she realises that what she is stroking is a pile
of silk stockings, note the description that is applied to
them:



But she went on
feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things--with both hands now, holding them up to see them
glisten, and to feel them glide serpentlike through her
fingers.



The use of the word
"serpentlike" in this description is extremely significant because serpents are used to represent
temptation. Just as Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit of the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, so Mrs. Sommers is tempted by the "serpentlike" stockings
to spend all the money on herself. Thus this descriptive note effectively foreshadows what is to
come by indicating the way in which Mrs. Sommers will be seduced by memories of the luxury she
once enjoyed.

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