Interpreting Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever"
Beginning of paper
Definitive criteria for judging the success or failure of a work of
fiction are not easily agreed upon; individuals almost necessarily introduce
bias into any such attempt. Only those who affect an exorbitantly refined
artistic taste, however, would deny the importance of poignancy in literary
pi ....
Middle of paper
.... day (1936) but
that moves beyond documentary to reveal something of the perennial antagonisms
of human nature.
From the story's first sentence, upon the introduction of two women of
"ripe but well-cared-for middle age," it becomes clear that stereotypes are at
issue (Wharton 1116). This mild description evokes immediate images of demure
and supportive wives, their husbands' wards. Neither woman is without her
"handsomely mounted black handbag," and it is not until several paragraphs into
....
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Word count: 1189
Page count: 5 (approximately 250 words per page)
