Kenny Knickerbocker
English 1020
Mrs. Rhea
Essay 1
3 March 2015
Karma 180 Degrees In Edith Wharton’s short story “Roman Fever” the reader learns fairly quickly that women of this time period were dressed in the highest quality clothes, their manners were beyond perfect, and they had confidence like Michael Jordan taking a game winner in the NBA finals. That being said, the character of Anida Slade fits that description to the tee when looking at her outer appearance, however, the reader goes on to learn that one of Mrs. Slade’s biggest weaknesses is indeed her lack of confidence. Jealousy is a feeling that everybody in their life experiences yet this same feeling is one that destroys a lot of people, friendships, and relationships. In “Roman Fever” Mrs. Slade has a severe case of being jealous of one of her best friends, Horace Ansley, because her daughter is full of life and prettier than her own. For example, the story states through the perspective of Mrs. Slade that Mrs. Ansley’s daughter, Barbara, “was more effective and had more edge”(121). This plays a role in the story because Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley were completely opposite of their children while Mrs. Ansley played the more humble of the two, Mrs. Slade’s daughter plays the humble one between the daughters. Another example of Mrs. Slade’s jealousy comes when she finds out that Mrs. Ansley actually had the nerve to write back to her husband and go meet in the Roman night. The entire story the reader gets the feel that Mrs. Slade is a high class broad with quotes such as, “The other lady, who was fuller, and higher in color, with a small determined nose supported by vigorous black eyebrows”(119). This trait of the character is very important to the story because this is simply Mrs. Slade’s only defense to the news of Mrs. Ansley hooking up with her dead and gone husband. The reader also gets a good understanding of Mrs. Slade’s snotty personality when she starts leading Mrs. Ansley into her master plan of calling her out on going to meet her fiancé when he wasn’t supposed to be there. Again, Mrs. Slade’s appearance alone gives her a huge sense of false confidence. A common trait of people who get jealous of others tends to be followed by a strong sequence of denial that he or she is indeed not jealous or embarrassed by whatever has just taken place and the readers get a look at it first hand in Wharton’s story. Shortly after Mrs. Ansley reveals the real truth about what happened on the long, cold night in the coliseum Mrs. Slade becomes completely dumbfounded by what she has just been told. Wharton goes on to say through the perspective of Mrs. Slade, “How she must have loved him, to treasure the mere memory of its ashes! They letter of the man her friend was engaged to. Wasn’t it she who was the monster?”(127) Mrs. Slade is thinking to herself, “What the heck did I just hear?” In this circumstance Mrs. Slade proves to be in denial mode because as soon as the news breaks she automatically turns it back on Mrs. Ansley even though she has been the one so far in the wrong already and has been for around 25 years or so now. Following that Mrs. Slade goes on to tell Mrs. Ansley how it was all a joke and seems to be very guilt ridden following the supreme coat of embarrassment that was just lathered on her soul. Social status plays a huge role in society today just like it did back in the day of Mrs. Anida Slade and Mrs. Horace Ansley. Mrs. Ansley wasn’t a lower class citizen however the presence of Mrs. Slade painted the picture that she was. The way that Mrs. Slade praises Mrs. Ansley’s daughter in the way that she does with quotes like, “Funny where she got it, with those two nullities as parents” (121) shows that Mrs. Slade doesn’t really think that highly of Mrs. Ansley even though the reader can assume Mrs. Ansley is financially sound. On the other hand, it’s actually Mrs. Slade whose social status is dropping by the minute in Wharton’s story. “It was a big drop from being Delphin Slade’s wife to being his widow” (121). Quotes like this show that it was an extremely difficult time for Mrs. Slade after her husband had died and little did she know it was about to get worse. After Mrs. Ansley reveals the big secret the two ladies begin to verbally quarrel with Mrs. Ansley getting the last big blow by saying, “I had Barbara”. (128) By the end of Wharton’s story the reader can tell what old saying is coming into play which happens to be, “What goes around comes around”. Throughout the story Mrs. Slade had been setting Mrs. Ansley up for what she thought was going to be the worst truth Mrs. Ansley has ever heard in her life. Sadly, or happily for the readers, Mrs. Slade gets completely schooled in her own game when Mrs. Ansley subliminally tells Mrs. Slade that she had replied to the letter and Delphin actually met her there leading to the Roman fever she had that one winter when they were young. All in all the looks, the money, the hot husband, along with the stuck up personality ended up not doing anything for Mrs. Slade later on in life, while her friend Mrs. Ansley who was sweet, humble and down to earth brought home the gold in this story.

Works Cited
Wharton, Edith. Roman Fever. n.d.