For this weekend’s assignment I chose to write about Kate Chopin. The two short stories she wrote are: “A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “Lilacs”. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is about a poor woman who stumbles upon fifteen dollars on the street. She spends the fifteen dollars on gifts for herself, a treat she never experienced before. This short story does not show any Romanticism. “Lilacs” is about a woman names Adrienne who use to live in a Convent with her nun friends. Every year she goes back to visit her friends, the story doesn’t tell why Adrienne left the Convent. This short story is called Lilacs because the smell of Lilacs reminds Adrienne of the memories of her past at the Convent. This short story shows a little bit of Romanticism. It shows the reader that something as simple of a smell can remind someone of their past.
Both of these stories show America Realism because the focus of the story is on a certain person. People that read these stories can relate to them. For example in “A Pair of Silk Stockings” the woman finds fifteen dollars on the street and treats herself to a gift. That has happened to me a few times and I’m sure a lot of other people. In “Lilacs” the smell of the flower reminds the main character of her past. There are plenty of smells in my life that remind me of things. For example, my mom use to make me a certain meal when I was younger, when I smell the food I get a flashback of my childhood.
I believe the topic that Chopin tries to cover in both of these short stories is change. Without change a person would not be who they really are. As you grow up not only your body goes through changes, but your mind too both physically and mentally. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings” The woman is poor, but when she finds fifteen dollars on the street, and treats herself, she changes into a person who can afford fancy things. In “Lilacs”, Adrienne changes her life a little more drastically then the woman in “A Pain of Silk Stockings”. She changes when she leaves the Convent starts living a different life.
Chopin is a great writer. The two stories that I read over the weekend were very interesting. Chopin uses a lot of real life examples in her stories that can connect the reader easily. While reading “Lilacs” I understood why Adrienne visited the Convent and her nun friends. She wanted to revisit her past. I love how she connected something as simple as the smell of a flower and made that the highlight of the story. I had a connection when I read”A Pair of Silk Stockings”. Finding money on the street is exciting, even if it is a dollar, or one hundred dollars, epically if you are poor like Mrs. Sommers. When you have the ability to go out and buy whatever catches your eye is a very good feeling. Chopin showed Mrs. Sommers excitement a lot through the story. She really connected the reader to both of her short stories.
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