According to Mrs. Sommers’ thoughts and actions at the beginning of the story, what is her primary focus in life? Has her life always been this way?
In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Sommers concerns herself with the investment of fifteen dollars. Her primary focus is spending and saving her money appropriately and providing her children with clothing and shoes. She is a bargain shopper, who gets the most for her money and works hard to spend as little as possible. Once Mrs. Sommers had known better days.... before her marriage.
The neighbors sometimes talked of certain "better days" that little Mrs. Sommers had known before she had ever thought of being Mrs. Sommers. She herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection.
A Pair of Silk Stockings
