"Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton
As you read, note any details the author includes that seem to be off a bit.
You might want to keep notes nearby so you can keep track of the characters.
Metonymy, or The Husband's Revenge
Metonymy, or the Husband's Revenge Rachel de Queiroz Metonymy. I learned the word in 1930 and shall never forget it. I had just published my first novel. A literary critic had scolded me because my hero went out into the night “chest unbuttoned.” “What deplorable nonsense!” wrote this eminently sensible gentleman. “Why does she not say what she means? Obviously, it was his shirt that was unbuttoned, not his chest.” I accepted his rebuke with humility, indeed with shame. But my illustrious Latin professor, Dr. Matos Peixoto came to my rescue. He said that what I had written was perfectly correct; that I had used a respectable figure of speech known as metonymy; and that this figure consisted in the use of one word for another word associated with it—for example, a word representing a cause instead of the effect, or representing the container when the content is intended. The classic instance, he told me, is “the sparkling cup”; in reality, not the cup but the wine in it is sparkli...
Alright so after reading this passage, I must say that I really enjoyed this story as well. At first it seems ridiculously mundane. However, as the passage progresses, there are some references to moonlight (which eventually becomes the central issue of the passage). The daughters seem interesting to me, and I particularly find the manifestation of Slade's issues in the form of a "phantom of some sort" is also interesting. The displeasure with Jenny does not make sense until you read the whole passage I suppose. The reason I really loved this passage is that the main twist blindsided me. First, Ansley dead (at least I believe). WHAT!? I was floored (as some warriors heard) by the twist, and it definitely makes a lot of the earlier discomfort make sense. Additionally, the affair twist (which is really three twists that leads to a final mega twist) is also good/ unexpected (but again makes earlier things make sense). Slade definitely feels some mix of rage/jealousy/insecurity/guilt over the whole situation, making the story very powerful. Overall, Wharton's story does not seem to have significant meaning beyond being a really interesting and good short story. However, I welcome all to converse over this, as it was a vastly enjoyable read and I yearn for discussion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the main twist being blindsiding as well as it seeming very boring at first (I do still think it is boring to a degree though). I don't believe Mrs. Ansley died, but I might be wrong with that assumption. I also agree with Slade's feelings at the end causing the story to seem very emotional. In a way, everyone can understand the feeling of jealousy and feeling beneath someone. I believe the author did a wonderful job portraying that by using Slade and Ansley.
DeleteAlthough I thought the passage started off slow, the ending brought a surprising twist. I noticed that the author waited to address the women’s names until the second page; until then, they had been the “dark lady” and “her companion.” I also found it interesting how the author uses words like “companion” and “intimate” when referring to the two women seeing as they are both words more commonly used to address a couple. On page two, I was at first intrigued as to why Mrs. Slade was so concerned with moonlight, but after finishing the story, I now understand. Even though no dates are directly given, the author references historical events like speakeasy’s to give the readers a sense of when the passage takes place. I have to say my favorite part of the passage was the ending. I thought the last line in which Mrs. Ainsley delivers her comeback was a kind of funny and shocking way to end the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree I thought the use of companion and intimate were interesting. Given the "bad blood" between the two, they are positioned as great associates and friends of each other. This friendship quickly disappears during the ending portion of the story. It was interesting how concerned Slade was in regards to the moonlight. Again, I thought it was perhaps because they were vampires and were concerned about the light reflecting off the moon's surface. But the Roman Fever concerns Slade and for the health of her friend. That is why she said "I never thought you'd die" because she knew her jealousy was not worth the death of her friend.
DeleteI completely agree with your points of topic. I too thought their relationship was odd; my first guess was lesbians. That could still be the case (eventhough they might have to hide it due to the times) but after reading the ending, I think there's too muh hate for a relationship. I too was wondering why Slade was so weird about the moonlight, but after reading it makes sence that she associates night with her cheating man. Finally, I too liked the ending becuase I was rooting for Ainsley, and that last line really declaired her as the clear winner of this argument.
DeleteAs I read this short story, I was constantly thinking about what the twist at the end would be. I wasn't disappointed in the twist; however, the beginning was so boring that I didn't really care by the end of the book. I really liked the last sentence when Mrs. Ansley reveals that Barbara is Delphin's child. After looking back on the story, I am wondering who is the better person in the story. The way it ends, the author makes it seem like Mrs. Ansley is the "protagonist of the story;" however, she knowingly went and had an affair with her best friends fiance. Mrs. Slade was not a good person either. She was so paranoid and jealous of Mrs. Ansley that she attempted to get her sick which would cause her to die, but Mrs. Slade explains that she was "blind with rage" whilst writing that letter. Neither characters were good people. Another thing I find interesting is the comparison of the daughters that Mrs. Slade makes. I am assuming it was a comparison of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley which I really liked. Overall, I did find this book pretty interesting; however, I do appreciate the complexity of the story.
ReplyDeleteI liked the last sentence too, and I thought it was a good way to end the story. I was kind of bored by the end of the story as well because the beginning was a bit tedious. I think both of the characters have the making of an antagonist and protagonist, but I'm sure I could choose whose who; an argument could be made for either. I also thought the comparison of the daughters was supposed to represent Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley; whether is be now or when they were young.
DeleteI agree, the twist was just fine but not crazy. I agree again, Benjamin, the beginning was boring, and, yeah, I was not immersed; therefore, I didn't care by the of the book either. That last line did not strike any different from anything else. Maybe the problem was the build-up to that last line was all on a high level of tension—I guess you could say—so it seemed to continue that; consequently, it did not stand out among everything else. I agree with your statements on both of the characters.
DeleteI guess this story was interesting, but it is not interesting enough that I would read it again if I had the choice. I mean, if I was at the dentist's office after coronavirus clears up and in the waiting room alone. And if I saw this story on the waiting room table in front of me after being told that I'll have to wait for 30 minutes with no phone and no fish tank in the room, I would sit just there and think. Or go back into the car, I guess, but you know what I mean.
I'm not sure if I agree with your assessment that both of them are bad people. It is true that the protagonist and antagonist isn't really clear, and they both did bad things concerning each other. But also, just because you do something bad, doesn't mean you are a bad person. Do I think they really grew out of those feelings and matured concerning those issues? No, no I don't. And that's not very good. But either way you have to realize they were young and had emotions to cloud their judgement. You can't tell me that's not normal. There is not a person on earth who doesn't make mistakes, overreact, or let their emotions get the best of them at some point —or points— in their life. I'm not condoning their actions or justifying them. I'm just saying I don't think either of the characters are bad. Just human.
DeleteThis was an interesting tale. Upon my first reading, I thought the ladies were vampires. I was quickly and rightly told otherwise, though I wish it was the truth. I thought this due to the frequent mentions of skin color and the outdoor light. Also, the first sentence made it seem like they were feasting on two ripe American women. Now onto the actual analysis. I wasn't too blown away by the "twist" as for some reason this sort of thing isn't all that surprising in today's day and age. I do not think Ansley died. That would be absurd, but would improve the story. I would like to take note of the colors. Mrs. Ansley, described as the "dark lady," and Mrs. Slade, described as the "lady of...high color" represents themselves. The darkness of Mrs. Ansley is possibly symbolic of the secrets and shame of herself from Mrs. Slade's perspective. Also, it's how Mrs. Slade views her through her jealous lust. Mrs. Slade is more colorful and lively because she views herself that way. Of course, this arrogance comes crashing down at the ending of the tale.
ReplyDeleteI will still hold fast to my belief that Ansley is dead, but your other points make a lot of sense. The use of color in this passage is exceptionally prevalent, and while I may have told you that it was not vampires, I see where you pulled that from. I think the reference to the moon is just to the night that is the crux of the story. Additionally, I agree that the story probably comes more from Slade's point of view (which might be because she is alive and Ansley is not but more on that tomorrow). The difference between light and shadow might be part of the dead theory, but also does show this juxtaposition of "good" and "evil".
DeleteThe beginning of this story was a painful read for me. This just moved very slowly at the start. It was all “tell don’t show” rather than “show don’t tell.” From the prompt, specifically the part that said, “that seem to be off a bit,” I was thinking that there would be some very unique event or some interesting figurative language usage in this story. Then, I saw the text errors “ ‒’ ” scattered throughout the story and thought someone would break the third wall or something. Obviously, that never happened and I was disappointed. It’s an alright story, but it’s not on the same level of “a very great example of _____” that other stories in English class have been before. These characters did feel somewhat realistic; however, the story did not immerse me. A few factors probably caused this. I know I could not imagine where they were, nor could I completely imagine how they looked. For comparison, while reading the previous two short stories, I was able to completely imagine their characters and settings. But in this story, there was too little information to work with for me to imagine this scene. I mean, I could imagine the general everything but I couldn’t give a face or a distinct setting for these characters.
ReplyDeleteIn the begininng of Roman Fever, my perception of the two women was completely different from my ending perception. At first, I felt it was being implied the two were a lesbian couple looking over the palatine at their two daughters. One of the daughters, Jenny, tells the other, Babs, their parents are not "actually knitting" and then insinuates the two may be doing something more intimate. This fact compared with the way the author refers to them as "intimate... companions, " and the way Ansley discusses the "collective modern idea of Mothers" drew my mind in this direction. However, then I begen to think otherwise when the author began refering to them by their last names, which happened to be different. On the topic of their names, I found the way the author addressed them odd. Initially they are reffered to by their last names, then their first, and then I feel like she mixes them at times. My third point of confusion was the title and the fact that the one woman seemed to have an immune deficiency or something. I don't know if it is because i am uneducated or somethnig but I don't know what roman fever refers to. I don't know If this was a real illness in history or something more figuritive like disco fever. In any case I think the title ties into the way Ansley get violently ill after going to the coliseum. Going back to the begining I was also confused about the way the author refered to the woman as "American" when it seems they were born and raised in Rome...odd. I feel this is getting long so I also thought Slade's envy of Ansley's daughter was odd and I enjoyed the catty remarks they traded and the way Ansley got the last word because I was kinda on her side. That's all I guess.
ReplyDeleteI also came to the same conclusion that the two women were a couple at first, and I agree that the dialogue was extremely confusing and hard to follow. But regarding the title, it refers to Mrs. Slade's attempt to make Mrs. Ansley ill and therefore lose any chance with Delphin; the term comes from a time in Rome where malaria was completely overtaking the city. Also, on that last part about them seeming to be from Rome, I believe that they both are American but tend to visit the city quite often (which tells you that they are RICH rich). And YES! I loved how Mrs. Ansley absolutely destroyed Mrs. Slade witht that last line -- it was really a mic drop moment, especially with how she just walked away after dropping the bomb.
DeleteDespite their differing last names and marital titles of “mrs,” I had originally thought the two women were a couple. Then, the author mentioned how both of their husbands died in a close time period, which led me to believe that maybe they killed them and fled to Rome to peacefully live their lives together, bringing their daughters with them. Very soon, this theory was proved to be wrong, though I still like it. After reading the bombshell that is the last sentence, I realized that Mrs. Slade’s wondering of how Mrs. and Mr. Ansley could have such a “brilliant” daughter was actually foreshadowing. Regarding the two women, though, neither of them seem to be very good people: they hold each other in a relatively negative light, they both have done bad things to each other and hid it for all those years, they are jealous, they compare each other to the other, etc, etc. Moral of the story: they both make awful friends.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add this but the Roman Fever, doesn't represent JUST physical illness, but rather the disease that is jealousy.
DeleteI agree with the idea that Roman Fever represents jealousy. Considering what people do because of jealousy in both stories and every day life, it can most definitely be classified as a disease. Whether they were ever truly good friends to each other, I am not sure; but I think jealousy most definitely played a huge role in their acts of betrayal. Given the immense amount of power this one emotion seems to have over people, I believe Roman Fever is insightful in terms of people's mindsets when they allow their jealous natural to control them.
DeleteI'm not really sure what I want to talk about here. As some have discussed, the beginning of the story is kind of hard to follow. I'm having a hard time finding the purpose of it. I'm thinking maybe the discussion of their daughters was just to introduce Slade's jealousy of Barbara to foreshadow the last big twist? I don't know. I suppose it is interesting that they are kind of made out to be really good friends at the beginning, but their whole outward appearance toward each other has just been a lie for a really long time. I like the plot twists. Something actually happened in a short story for once, and it was kind of concluding. So I'm satisfied with how this ended. I'm not really on one side or the other here, but Ansley did have some fire comebacks. She got married so quickly after the meeting because she was pregnant, and, obviously, babies out of wedlock were not okay then. I don't know if anyone has mentioned that. But I just figured I would point it out because it just hit me.
ReplyDeleteI agreeee! I feel like the Barbara comments were definitely intention as well. When I was first reading the story, I never could have guessed what would have happened too because they seemed so close to the point where even their daughters and best friends. I also liked the end of the story though, like you said, it was crazy to see that their friendship was just a lie. Honestly I don't know how they could even face each other after that like SLEEPING WITH YOUR BEST FRIENDS MAN???? I couldn't even imagine, but I guess that the power struggle.
DeleteWe don't talk about the beginning (ugH), but I also believe that the introduction of their daughters was also to give the readers little hints that mayybeeee, just maybe, the daughter's father isn't who we think he is. And that just how it be sometimes: some people are just fake to other people, putting up a facade to them, and in this case to most other people, but are truly just hiding their not so good, toxic personalities. But anywho I hope that this short story has changed your minds on a few other short stories as well! They really aren't as bad as you believe them to be and can be quite interesting!
DeleteSimilarly to others, I did originally believe that the story was bland and meaningless; however, I should have realized that everything has meaning in this class lol. Essentially, the main idea that caught my mind was the symbol of "roman fever" which definitely was similar to how the women were infected with jealousy. For me, that symbol was one of the main foreshadowers because the disease of jealous obviously contaminated their friendship. Additionally, the talk of Barbara also peaked my interest and foreshadowed the events. Furthermore, this short story also dives into the idea of female competition in the upper class for the most success. Delphin and Alida Slade got married and Alida received the money and power; however, Grace Ansley then tries to compete and sleeps with Delphin KNOWING his with Alida, who she is supposed to be friends with, for the power and that is messed up. But yeah I don't know what else to say so have a great day<3
ReplyDeleteI JUST READ JADES AND NOTICED SHE SAID SIMILAR THINGS IM SORRY
DeleteI just noticed the symbol of Roman fever as an infectious disease that burdened Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. Though not a physical disease, there is clearly jealousy that causes the ongoing battle between the two women. Especially the part that mentions Mrs. Ansley's great-aunt and how she sent her sister out to catch Roman fever in hopes that she would finally win the man they were battling over. As they discuss this event, they are unknowingly describing their exact situation currently.
DeleteAs I first started reading the story, I found it difficult to concentrate due to finding it very boring. Though in the beginning I did feel some sympathy for both women upon learning of their husbands' deaths, my opinion on them changed a few times while reading the rest of the story. While I did not expect the twist at the ending, i did speculate the potential of a possible affair between the two women given their peculiar relationship with each other. I could potentially garner more sympathy for them if this were the case; however, the real circumstances leave me viewing both women as rather cruel to each other. I feel their friendship cannot be as strong as they would leave others to believe if they so willingly betrayed each other and continued to keep it a secret for a long time. Due to these various events in the story, I am left to conclude that neither of them are able to comprehend how one is expected to treat their friends.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said! It was odd to me that they are even friends at all. The dynamic they had to be friends yet hide so much from each other was interesting. I liked how they happened to meet at the same time and the tension rose steadily between Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley.
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ReplyDeleteThe opening of the story was very boring and slow. I felt sympathy for both the women *in the beginning* as we quickly find out both of them experience loss of their husbands. As the story progressed, those feelings dissolved. It is revealed that there is rivalry between the women in terms of both their husbands and daughters. Additionally, Mrs. Slade takes on a condescending tone when she is talking to Mrs. Ansley, treating her as if she is inferior. It is clear Mrs. Slade feels threatened by Mrs. Ansley and demeans her at any chance she gets, such as making jokes at her expense. I liked the shock factor throughout the story, especially with the several conflicts between the women. As a result of both women's child-like behavior and unjustified acts due to personal anxieties and insecurities, the sympathy for each of them washes away; though, an interesting tale is created. The characterization as the story progresses is also exponential and very striking.
The main element of the story that I found very interesting was how they continued to feel sorry for each other. Though the story begins with Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade acting friendly, it is eventually explained that, although they have lived similar lives, they have never really sat down to talk. Because of this, a sort of tension is naturally created between the two. I, however, was not expecting Mrs. Slade to call Mrs. Ansley out about meeting up with Mr. Slade. As this was very shocking, the element of pity for each other that I mentioned earlier was even more surprising. I would expect a woman whose husband cheated on her to be angry at the woman he did it with. Mrs. Slade just feels superior since she had Mr. Slade for so many years of marriage while Mrs. Ansley had him for one night. I also like how, though she was downplaying how great her daughter was, Mrs. Ansley makes the remark about having Barbara through all of that.
ReplyDeleteI apologize if this was already talked about (tbh i didn't really read the others. whoops) BUT anywho, although the story did begin very dully, one thing I tended to notice a lot was the symbolism behind the knitting. In the beginning, Mrs. Ansley pulls out "a twist of crimson silk" from her bag and knits. From the idea of the knitting itself being a symbol of the domestic, classic-woman persona she puts off to the mere color being a hint towards her rendezvous with Delphin Slade, the knitting struck me with more purpose than I originally thought. The idea that the thing she was knitting wasn't made of yarn but silk, a fabric typically used for more romantic type of attire, also hinted to me what the future of the story holds. I, however, didn't really catch onto this until after I had reached the story's end. But, it seems to be Mrs. Ansley's distraction from having a personal conversation with Mrs. Slade for a little bit, as she focuses on knitting rather than the words being put out to her. The two characters, whether they'd like it or not, are interwoven with one another; though their relationship may be fraying or cut, their ties will still be there no matter what. But yeah. Moral of the story: don't be a crappy friend. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed very early on is even though the women might be "friendly," they still took constantly took jabs at each other, and overused sarcasm and joking to the point of rudeness. I believe this not only sets the tone for the story, but foreshadows the double crossing that happens later in the story, with their ill intentions in the very forefront of their speech patterns.
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