How to Read a Short Story: "Roman Fever" questions g-k

g) One of the main images in the story is the comparison between dark and

light. Grace is referred to as being pale and angelic and Alida is dark and

slightly devilish. Alida’s daughter Jenny is also called angelic several

times, and surprisingly, this is not what Alida wants in a child. She would

prefer a daughter who needs more attention, who is more of a troublemaker,

like Grace’s daughter Barbara. Grace, on the contrary, would prefer an

angelic daughter. She claims that Babs is angelic but I think this that she

says this because she is defensive of her daughter. Also, in the light Grace

and Alida seem to have a friendly relationship while in the darkness they

reveal their true feelings of one another.

h) The diction and syntax in this story reflects the snooty upper class that

Slade and Ansley belong to. For example, Alida does not sit down in a chair,

she "settles herself" in one. In this story, the characters’ exposition

spans the entire story; the basic character facts are given with the plot.

This story is full of repeated description. Wharton really emphasizes the

fact that it is getting darker and mentions it several times. She

continuously gives us hints about Grace, letting us know that something has

happened to her that Alida doesn’t know; for example Grace "looked straight

out at the great accumulated wreckage of passion and splendor at her feet.

But her small profile was almost expressionless" (1363). Something unusual

about Wharton’s writing style is that the characters perceive things that

the narrator would usually have to point out because the character wouldn’t

notice. For example, after Alida describes the beautiful view, Ansley claims

" ‘It will always be, to me,’…with so slight a stress on ‘me’ that Mrs.

Slade, though she noticed it, wondered if it were not merely accidental,

like the random underlinings of old-fashioned letter writers.

i) The main symbol in this story is moonlight. The daytime seems to be a

mask or façade for Mrs. Alida Slade and Mrs. Grace Ansley. When is it light

out, they cordially reminisce about when they were girls and politely

compliment each other. As soon as it gets dark, Mrs. Slade reveals to Mrs.

Ansley that she wrote the letter that Ansley assumed her lover had written,

a secret that she has kept for over twenty-five years. Grace Ansley and

Delphin Slade met at the Colosseum in the night shortly before he married

Alida. At this rendezvous, Grace’s daughter Barbara was conceived and

shortly after Grace’s mother " ‘rushed you off to Florence and married you’"

(1367). Alida is offended by Grace’s sudden marriage- she thinks it is

because Grace wanted " ‘to be able to say you’d gotten ahead of Delphin and

me…your marrying so soon convinced me that you’d never really cared’"

(1367). Alida and Grace’s friendship only exists in the daylight, at night

they say what they really think of each other- the moonlight brings out

their boldness and true feelings that they can hide in the daylight. Another

symbol in this story is the knitting needles. I think the needles represent

their social image and how their relationship is viewed by society.

Throughout the story Alida can’t understand how Grace can continue to knit

so calmly no matter how tense the situation gets. The needles represent

Grace’s cool, yet hidden control over the situation. Alida thinks that she

is in the driver’s seat throughout the conversation but Grace is silently

creating (or knitting) ways to shock Alida and let her subtly realize that

she (Grace) was the one who really benefited from the affair with Delphin.

Another symbol is the Roman fever, or malaria. While Alida is sorry that

Grace got sick that night at the Colosseum, she doesn’t realize that the

illness was really a blessing in disguise. If Grace hadn’t gone to meet

Delphin she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant and had the daughter that Alida

wishes she had. Alida constantly mentions how "angelic" her own daughter is

while the readers can detect her jealousy of Grace. Alida is grateful and

gloats over the fact that she didn’t get Roman fever even though it "

‘stalked the streets…at that dangerous hour (after sunset)’" (1363), until

she realizes that the disease is the reason that Grace has what Alida wants

more than anything- a charismatic, mischievous daughter.

j) Some thing very ironic in the story is that the two main characters’

daughters seem to be very different from their mothers and each mother hints

that she would prefer a daughter like the other’s daughter. Alida claims

that her "dear Jenny was such a perfect angel daughter that she needed no

excessive mothering. ‘Now with Babs Ansley I don’t know that I should be so

quiet’ she sometimes half enviously reflected" (1361). Grace seems to be

slightly embarrassed and ashamed of her daughter; she sends "an unheard

rebuke after the mocking voice in the hallway" (1359). This is ironic

because the daughter that Alida wishes she had is in fact her husbands

daughter, which she doesn’t find out until the end of the story. She is

surprised that Babs "has more edge…with those two nullities as parents"

(1360). Another ironic part is when Alida mentions Grace’s Great-aunt

Harriet, who was allegedly in love with the same man as her younger sister,

whom she " ‘sent…out to the Forum after sunset’" (1364) who later caught the

fever and died. It seems like Alida is trying to hint at the fact that maybe

Grace was also a back-stabber to her good, sister-like friend, because it

was hereditary, After all, Grace did get the fever after meeting Delphin at

the Forum at night.

k) A major theme in this story is the parallel between darkness and light.

Grace and Jenny are called pale and angelic and Alida and Babs are referred

to as being dark and slightly naughty. In the daytime Alida and Grace seem

to be the best of friends but as soon as the sun sets, they will risk their

friendship to do whatever it takes to come out on top in the end. After all,

Grace does get Roman fever after going to the Colosseum at night but she

also gets the type of daughter that Alida has always wanted. Another theme

is that people are not what they seem to be. Alida and Grace have been

friends for many years yet they know nothing about each other. They both

know about Grace’s affair with Alida’s fiancé but its takes twenty five

years before they learn important details about the evening that change

their lives- Grace finds out that Delphin did not write the letter that has

been so important to her all these years, and Alida learns of her husband’s

connection to Grace’s daughter. Alida has always felt that she was the one

is control in her relationship with Grace but she finds out that night that

Grace has actually pities her all these years because she " ‘didn’t have to

wait that night’" (1368) for Delphin at the Colosseum. Alida’s response to

this is " ‘Yes; I was beaten there. But I oughtn’t to begrudge it to you, I

suppose. At the end of all these years. After all, I had everything; I had

him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter he didn’t

write’" (1368) to which Grace gives the ultimate blow to Alida by saying "

‘I had Barbara’" (1368).