ROMAN FEVER OUTLINE
Through the short story “Roman Fever”, Wharton illustrates the dark sides hidden under the surfaces of the character relationships which lead to the emotional damages that the characters suffer in their whole lives.
1. Thought sisters in family seem to have close relationship, they can do harm to each other and be haunted by their own cruel act for the rest of their lives
1.1. Great Aunt Harriet arranges for the death of her sisters
1.2. Harriet gets haunted by the death of her sister and is set as a bad example from generation to generation.
1.3. Barbara and Jenny are sisters in law and there is a likelihood that such severe battle for a man will recur on them.
2. There are lots of deceits, exploitations, and unfaithfulness behind the mask of the characters’ marriages in which the women involved are piteous victims in the end.
2.1. Alida wants to marry Delphin not for true love but his fame and social status which soon become nothing but Alida’s regret after he passed away.
2.2. Despite Delphin engages to Alida, he still has a love affair with Grace, which fuels Alida’s jealousy and hatred against Grace and leads Grace to be a victim of a hopeless love.
3. The relationship between the two main characters is totally built on envy, hatred and deceptions – uneasy feelings that always obsess them even after so long a time.
3.1. Though Alida and Grace are described as being “intimate since childhood”, they always have negative thoughts of each other.
3.2. At the unexpected reunion, Alida tries all best to remind Grace of her past of being a loser, which leads both of them to destructive emotions
3.3. Alida deceives Grace by faking the letter and the moment she confesses this nearly destroys Grace for her trust in Delphin’s love is collapsed.
3.4. That Delphin is Barbara’s father is an shocking confession to Alida, which turns her into a complete loser.
1. Thought sisters in family seem to have close relationship, they can do harm to each other and be haunted by their own cruel act for the rest of their lives
1.1. Great Aunt Harriet arranges for the death of her sisters
1.2. Harriet gets haunted by the death of her sister and is set as a bad example from generation to generation.
1.3. Barbara and Jenny are sisters in law and there is a likelihood that such severe battle for a man will recur on them.
2. There are lots of deceits, exploitations, and unfaithfulness behind the mask of the characters’ marriages in which the women involved are piteous victims in the end.
2.1. Alida wants to marry Delphin not for true love but his fame and social status which soon become nothing but Alida’s regret after he passed away.
2.2. Despite Delphin engages to Alida, he still has a love affair with Grace, which fuels Alida’s jealousy and hatred against Grace and leads Grace to be a victim of a hopeless love.
3. The relationship between the two main characters is totally built on envy, hatred and deceptions – uneasy feelings that always obsess them even after so long a time.
3.1. Though Alida and Grace are described as being “intimate since childhood”, they always have negative thoughts of each other.
3.2. At the unexpected reunion, Alida tries all best to remind Grace of her past of being a loser, which leads both of them to destructive emotions
3.3. Alida deceives Grace by faking the letter and the moment she confesses this nearly destroys Grace for her trust in Delphin’s love is collapsed.
3.4. That Delphin is Barbara’s father is an shocking confession to Alida, which turns her into a complete loser.