A Pair of Silk Stockings

Situational irony occurs when there is a discrepancy between what one expects to happen and what actually takes place. It creates tension within Mrs. Sommers’s story, heightening the reader’s sense of urgency and anxiety. Early on, the narrator says that Mrs. Sommers “did not wish to act hastily, to do anything she might afterward regret” (2). For this reason, she carefully makes plans for the use of the $15; however, when she gets to the store, she begins to completely abandon those plans and proceeds to spend the entirety of the money on herself. She gives herself over to impulse, causing one to wonder how she will feel and what she will do once she fully realizes what she has done when the money is all gone. This feeling of worry and dread mimics Mrs. Sommers’s own view of her future, whenever she allows herself to think about it, as a “dim, gaunt monster” (4). This tension puts the reader into an emotional state similar to the one Mrs. Sommers typically occupies, allowing one to sympathize with her all the more when she is compelled to return to reality. The irony is heightened when Mrs. Sommers’s habitual way of living in the present is driven not by daily necessity but by the “mechanical impulse” of her freedom on her day out.

By using the third person omniscient, and by almost completely restricting the reader’s attention to Mrs. Sommers’s thoughts and feelings, the narrative highlights her struggles. This is particularly significant because her struggles are supposed to be of little consequence to her and, typically, are not considered to be of importance to society so long as she is doing her duty to her family. In a world where she is “little,” the narrative makes her essential and significant. Not only is the narrative comprised mostly of her actions, thoughts, and sensations, but no other character is afforded the chance to speak for themselves in the text. Other characters’ speech is only ever paraphrased by the narrator. The salesgirl “asked her if she wished to examine their line of silk hosiery,” and the waiter “take[s] her order,” for example, but none of their speech is directly quoted as Mrs. Sommers’s is. In this way, via the point of view and her status as the only character who is permitted direct discourse, her concerns and actions are made the most important and significant, notable for a person who seems to have little importance or significance in her own life.