ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates Kate Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” (1897), whose plot development in itself is marked by two incompatible thematic trajectories: a feminist versus a consumerist one. Behind the complicated plot, there is a previously unnoticed naturalistic covert progression implicitly stressing environmental determinism. The textual choices thematically crucial to this undercurrent appear to be peripheral or digressive to the overt feminist and consumerist trajectories. The different narrative movements, which reflect multiple cultural influences, contradict and counterpoint each other in conveying rich thematic significance and creating a complex image of the female protagonist, thus arousing or having the potential to arouse differentiated responses from readers. No matter how many perspectives critics adopt in approaching the plot development, neglecting the covert progression will result in a partial understanding not only of events but also of characters, themes, and aesthetic values of the narrative.
