THE AWAKENING AND ”A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS”: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON MOTHERHOOD AS INSTITUTION*
THE AWAKENING AND ”A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS”: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON MOTHERHOOD AS INSTITUTION*

Summary/Abstract: Within the context of American feminist thinking, Kate Chopin (1850-1904) writes 'A Pair of Silk Stockings' (one of her many short stories) and her second – and last – novel The Awakening by focusing on the female self-sacrifice socially imposed as a model for motherly love. This paper analyses the novel from a feminist perspective, revealing the manner in which, in both texts, children reduce the subjectivity of the mother to an object that is meant to guarantee the preservation of their selfhood. The analysis points out that one of the main themes in Chopin’s works is the conflict between: personal need and duty, motherhood and selfhood, self-gratification and self-sacrifice. All in all, in the novel and short story, maternity is depicted as a state of self-deprivation when regarded as an institution and, alternatively, as a means of achieving self-realization (through caring for others) when perceived as a relationship.

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