Roman Fever
The story "Roman Fever", by Edith Wharton, is about two women and the relationship that they have established over a long period of friendship. These women, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, have practically grown up with together and they think that they know pretty much everything about one another. But as the story progresses, they realize that there is more and more that they have not told each other. Edith Wharton uses different types of writing and situations with the characters in the story to add excitement to the story. She also uses setting and wording in a way that is very unique and gives the story and ironic sense to it. Many ironic themes in this story make it interesting, and tie major points of the story together. Edith Wharton does a good job of using irony to give "Roman Fever" an interesting twist. The very first instance of irony of this story is the title. Roman fever was a common illness in the old days in Rome. The way that people would catch this illness was by going out at night when it was cold and not being properly covered up. The reader does not realize the irony of the title until later on in the story when it gets explained to the reader. When Mrs. Ansley became pregnant with her daug
Edith Wharton also uses irony through different people in the story "Roman Fever". One of these people is Mrs. Ansley's daughter, Barbara. Barbara is a very pretty and animated young girl, and she is just a little bit older that Mrs. Slade's daughter, Jenny. Mrs. Slade is constantly raving about Babs, saying how pretty she is and that she was "more effective"(1360) than her once very pretty mother, and that she "had more [of an] edge" (1360) than her mother as well. Mrs. Slade also says that she wishes her daughter were a little wilder, like Babs was. She says that Jenny never stood a chance in getting the aviator boy, because he would be interested in Barbara. While Mrs. Slade is constantly complimenting Babs, Mrs. Ansley is always modest about it only saying, "I think you overrate Babs"(1363). This was a rather funny point in the story. Although the reader is yet to know that Babs is really Delphin's daughter, Mrs. Ansley knows it; and she just covers it by being modest about her daughter. Mrs. Slade always made many comments about how charming Babs was in comparison to her parents, Mrs. Ansley and her husband, who were dull people. "Funny where she got it, with those two nullities as parents"(1360). Mrs. Slade spends so much time talking about how she wants to have a daughter like Babs, and about how Mr. and Mrs. Ansley are dull, but what she does not know is that Barbara's biological father is Delphin, Mrs. Slade's husband. Just like she uses irony in the title of the story, Edith Wharton also uses irony in "Ro
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1030
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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