Essay On Roman Fever

Chapter One of of Jim Murphy’s book, An American Plague, opens with the quote, ‘About this time, this destroying scourge, the malignant fever, crept in among us” (Murphy 1). This quote is accredited to Mathew Carey in November, 1793. The term scourge is defined as, “a person or thing that cause great trouble of suffering,” and the term malignant is defined as, “tending to produce death or deterioration.” These are very strong terms with extremely negative connotative meanings. The figurative language which is evident in the quote at the opening of Chapter One is personification. Carey’s quote give yellow fever an eerie, human-like quality when he writes, “the destroying scourge, the malignant fever, CREPT in among us” (Murphy 1). CArey’s word choices and use of personification help to create a powerful image in the reader’s mind of the threat looming over the city of Philadelphia.\

Another example from the book is in chapter 2 on page 15 the idea that illness was caused by microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, was not known at the time. Instead, doctors based their medical thinking on the 2,500-year-old Greek humoral theory. THis concept stated that good health resulted when body fluids, called humors, were balance. This means that you could have the humors. The humors were phlegm, choler, bile, and blood.

List two main points discussed in “Typhoid Fever.” What was the story about? What should a reader take from the story?

The stories of Fever 1793 and Copper Sun on the surface do not demonstrate any similarities, but deeper into the meanings of both stories show us otherwise. Copper Sun is the story of Amari, a young tribal girl in africa stolen from her homeland to become a slave. She endures countless acts of cruelty, is subjected to pain and suffering, and is forced to fight for not only her freedom- but her life. The themes in this novel continue to delve deeper into the cruel reality of the human mind, but also the inner strength of the human spirit. Fever 1793 is the story of Mattie, living around the same time period. She is white, so she is not subjected to the same pain Amari has been. Initially, at least. Deeper into the novel as the flow of time progresses, Mattie too begins to accept the cold reality of life. Mattie experiences a deadly fever in her city that grips not only her, but members of her family. Since this disease is widespread and very lethal, people

Selected Text: Fever of 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. (2009)

The tendency of Pox Americana is to inform the reader that the smallpox epidemic was not just the common cold, but rather it was a deadly disease that affected

“Roman Fever” is successful in revealing a darker side of interpersonal interactions and the lust for the role of the superior in relationships. It conveys this message by showing the transfer of

“I jolted awake. My sheets were soaked through with sweat, blood, and the foul-smelling black substance that marked a victim of yellow fever. Yellow fever,” despite her desperate cries for mercy, yellow fever struck young Matilda Cook with its evil hand, along with thousands of other unfortunate victims. An unpredictable future haunted the families of Philadelphia as this unbearable sickness slithered in between their homes. In the novel Fever, Laurie Halse Anderson described the fictional epidemic that occurred in 1793 to the citizens of Pennsylvania. She passionately painted the picture with blended colors of pain, perseverance, and hope. Despite unbearable pain, the protagonist pressed on with strength and hope. While her character certainly deserves admiration, Matilda Cook is not the only strong character in this story, her friends Eliza and Nathaniel share some of her inspiring traits as well as some of their own.

Crosby introduces the novel by detailing the plague seemingly at its worst level. The symptoms of the fever are described,

The short story, “Roman Fever” illustrates the shocking relationship between two women, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, by a chance meeting in Rome. As the story opens the two women are sitting on the terrace of a Roman restaurant that has an astonishing view of the Colosseum and other Roman ruins. While the women sit in silence and enjoy the tranquil view from the terrace they notice their daughters down below running off to spend a romantic evening with two young men. This triggers Mrs. Slades memories of her and Mrs. Ansley’s quixotic adventures in Rome as young adults and their first encounter with “Roman fever”. Wharton uses the term Roman fever to illustrative the women’s past relationship that is embedded with destruction,

“Roman Fever”, written by Edith Wharton, is a short story with an unpredictable ending. Two “middle aged” widows, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade, have come across each other unexpectedly in a Roman restaurant. The outcome of envy and jealousy on each other began with wanting to conquer one man, Delphin Slade. A conversation has begun once the daughters “leave the young things to their knitting”, later leaving the reader astonished (Wharton 1). In “Roman Fever”, the strained friendship results from the envy and jealousy of one another.

Roman Fever" is an outstanding example of Edith Wharton's theme to express the subtle nuances of formal upper class society that cause change underneath the pretense of stability. Wharton studied what actually made their common society tick, paying attention to unspoken signals, the histories of relationships, and seemingly coincidental parallels. All of these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the story of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley.

“Roman Fever” is a short story written by Edith Wharton in 1934. The story is about two old friends Alina Slade and Grace Ansley reconnecting. Alina and Grace run into each other while on a trip to Rome with their daughters. The two women grew up in Manhattan and were childhood friends. A romantic rivalry led Alina to get feelings of jealousy and hatred against Grace. In the first part of the story, the two women talk about their daughters and each other's lives. Eventually, Alina reveals a secret about a letter written to Grace on a visit to Rome long ago. The letter was addressed from Alina’s fiancé, Delphin, inviting Grace to meet at the Colosseum. Alina had written the letter, to get Grace out of the way of the engagement by disappointing her when Delphin didn’t show up. Grace is upset at this revelation, but reveals that she was not left alone at the Colosseum. She had responded to the letter, and Delphin went to meet her. Alina eventually states that Grace shouldn’t pity her because she won by marring Delphin while Grace had nothing but a letter Delphin didn't even write. Then, Grace reveals that she had Barbara, Grace’s daughter, with Delphin. “Roman Fever” uses a lot of dramatic irony and has many events that contribute to thematic conflict. Wharton uses the letter Alina writes to Grace to trigger all the deception between them, which shows readers that when people are being deceitful with one another nobody wins. Alina sends the letter to Grace to get her out of the picture, but it gives Grace the chance at Delphin that she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, and Grace takes advantage by writing back to Delphin without Alina’s knowledge. Both characters are keeping secrets about their relationships with Delphin and they both think that they won when neither of them did.

As a curious modern subject, he investigates the city around him, both accepting and criticizing the government’s treatment of citizens. H.F shows distrust and fear of those potentially infected. However, he also displays compassion and empathy for those who are shut up or forced to roam the streets to survive. In his descriptions, H.F capitalizes on the sensory experiences of those imprisoned and tries to express the psychological pain they endured. He writes, “I come back to the Case of Families infected, and shut up by the Magistrates; the Misery of those Families is not to be express’d, and it was generally in such Houses that we heard the most dismal Shrieks and Out-cries of the poor People terrified, and even frightened to Death, by the Sight of the Condition of their dearest Relations, and by the Terror of being imprisoned as they were.” (49) Despite his belief that it is wise to quarantine the infected, H.F demonstrates an understanding of the opposition against it. Interestingly, he dislikes the practice not only because it is harmful, but also because it is ineffective. Conveying the difficult job of the watchmen, he cites a number of instances in which people used trickery to conceal their illnesses or violence as a means of escape. These people often ran madly through the streets, potentially spreading the plague

The clearest illness was that of Septimus, in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’. Septimus suffered from shell-shock, a result of the First World War. This illness in turn brought about an