What is your interpretation of Mrs. Sommers' character in Kate Chopin's short story, "A Pair of Silk Stockings"?

The author describes her as "Little Mrs. Sommers." We are given a few further details about her—four children, no mention of a husband or job, and a future she regards as a "dim, gaunt monster." She lacks the time to recall her "better days."

Kate Chopin, in "A Pair of Silk Stockings," gives several meaningful clues with regard to "Little Mrs Sommers." One clue is that the neighbors hint at better days Mrs Sommers had at one time enjoyed—before she married. However, our protagonist gives herself no time to reflect on better days for there are too many other more important things that take up her time: we can assume this to mean the welfare of her children.

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.  She had no time – no second of time to devote to the past.  The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty.

We also learn that Mrs Sommers is feeling faint in the story: in all that she has done for others that day, she has done nothing for herself; she has not even had lunch. In one unguarded moment, Mrs Sommers actually finds herself thinking about herself. The silk stockings represent a freedom to indulge a whim: to buy something that is not functional, but lovely. For it is certain that Mrs Sommers no longer sees herself as anything but "functional."

Once she begins, it seems that Mrs. Sommers cannot stop. She is practical in terms of spending wisely on the items she purchases, but we do not get the sense that she is guilty over her purchases; however I find that the complacency that has fallen over Mrs Sommers for all the years she has had to scrimp, save, patch and repair, has been lifted.

Similar to Chopin's "Story of an Hour," where the protagonist has no way to go back to who she was the day before, I get the same sense with Mrs Sommers. Although we do not, as readers, get a sense of tragedy at the story's end, we are aware of a clear sense of sadness and the inevitable. She will go back, though she wishes she did not have to.

The man who looks at Mrs Sommers notices nothing unusual or noteworthy, the author tells us. Perhaps Chopin is inferring that where women are concerned, men of that time noticed little of a woman's world apart from how it related to a man:

A man with keen eyes, who sat opposite to her, seemed to like the study of her small, pale face.  It puzzled him to decipher what he saw there.  In truth, he saw nothing...

Chopin goes on, however, to note that had the man been a "wizard," someone with extraordinary powers, he might have seen something very "telling" in the way Mrs Sommers looked riding the cable car, that she wished she could continue the ride forever, never having to return to the drudgery and penury of her life.

...unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever.

It would seem that the silk stockings allow a fervent wish to come to Mrs Sommers' mind that she might be delivered from the hardships of her life to enjoy simple pleasures without worries or struggles. In that no husband is mentioned, her situation is that much more difficult, for this society was supportive of married women, where a man was in charge. However, we can infer by the story's end, that although she might wish for an easier life, she will go home to take care of her children, and survive as she has all along.

"Little Mrs. Sommers" is not given much of a physical description in the short story at all. She is described has having pale cheeks, and being tired. Her life situation is also described; Mrs. Sommers has 4 children, all of whom seem to be young still. (The story describes the energy Mrs. Sommers uses to get her children ready, indicating that they are still fairly young). Given these images, and the fact that Mrs. Sommers used to be familiar with luxury before she was Mrs. Sommers, I tend to picture a petite, relatively thin woman in her mid-twenties to early-thirties. She is a woman who looks like she was had money, but now seems worn (yet determined). She is not attention demanding in appearance, but neither is she plain or haggard. Mostly importantly, she carried an expression of one who wants to escape, yet feels guilty for having such a desire. 

What are some characteristics of Mrs. Sommers in "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin?

In A Pair of Silk Stockings, Kate Chopin ascribes numerous valuable characteristics to Mrs. Sommers. In fact, Chopin reveals to us no negative traits at all. Mrs. Sommers has no animosity, regret, disgust, greed or selfishness. Her worst trait is that in a moment of fatigue, hunger and prolonged anxiety and anticipation, she enjoys the touch and colors of a collection of fine silk stockings.

Chopin shows that Mrs. Sommers is careful, deliberate and frugal. We are told that Mrs. Sommers, doesn't want to "act hastily" to do anything with her unexpected wealth that she might regret. Mrs. Sommers knows the "value of bargains" and can elbow, snatch and grab her way with determination to affordable necessities, like shirting, for her family.

Mrs. Sommers is a considerate and conscientious mother. She mends, darns, and skillfully patches for them. She becomes excited and anticipatory at the thought of her children in good looking clothes. Mrs. Sommers is conscientious to the point of overworking and neglecting herself as on the day of her shopping trip when she overlooked "swallowing a bite" of luncheon (the long form of the shortened word lunch), which is integrally tied to the conflict (plot) of the story.

Additionally, Mrs. Sommers is not selfindulgent or given to regrets or negative emotions. She never "indulged in morbid retrospection" about her past "better days." She only had time to devote to the demands of the present.

Mrs. Sommers is a reasonable woman who has sensible expectations of herself and other people. She tells the shoe salesman that she is willing to accept a small increase in price if she can get what she "desires." And at her stop at the restaurant, she tells the waiter that she doesn't want a "profusion" of food but just a "tasty bite," and in fact has a modest though delicious meal.

Above all, as she herself learns and we along with her, Mrs. Sommers is intelligent and elegant--still. She buys her magazines and enjoys reading them. She walks with a greater bearing. She draws no undue attention when she enters the restaurant or as she removes "her gloves very leisurely" to lay them beside her. She converses freely with the other lady at the theater. In fact, they share a laugh, a tear and a chocolate together.

In the cable car on the way home to her family, as she feels that she is out of place in the world she once chose for love, it is her "poignant wish, a powerful longing," without regret or rancor, that the savory recollection of her moment of return to her better days could go on without end.