Cold Sunsets at the Colosseum

            The behavior of Mrs. Slade in “Roman Fever” before I discovered the ending seemed off-putting in that she was intentionally interrogating Mrs. Ansley throughout the story. Mrs. Ansley was very calm while Mrs. Slade kept throwing questions at her in an interrogative matter. Reading the story I could not understand why she was speaking to Mrs. Ansley in a subtly harsh manner, but the end made that quite clear. Question two in Reading Narrative Fiction asks about the details that come more important once the ending is known. The tone of the story completely changes once I have knowledge of the ending because the harsh tone turns into a spiteful and accusatory one once I know that Mrs. Ansley met up with Mrs. Slade’s then-fiancé.

            There are many small details of the discourse that become so pertinent once the ending is revealed. Mrs. Slade is constantly looking at The Colosseum, which I honestly read over the first time I read through – I thought maybe she was just admiring the beautiful city. However, on page 207, the Colosseum is mentioned for the first time, “…brooding, her eyes ranging from the ruins which faced her to the long green hollow of the Forum, the fading glow of the church fronts beyond it, and the outlying immensity of the Colosseum.” This immensity isn’t just the size; this refers to the amount of an emotional impact that has built up inside of her due to the secret that she knew Mrs. Ansley was keeping. She also observes it again on page 208 when her tone becomes more and more harsh through the discourse; “She stood up and leaned against the parapet, filling her troubled eyes with the tranquilizing magic of the hour. Her gaze turned towards the Colosseum.” Right before this, she had been comparing their daughters and saying that Babs was much more beautiful and popular with boys than Jenny, her own daughter, a sentiment that she probably feels about Mrs. Ansley compared to herself from when they were younger. She reflects her feelings of resentfulness in her own daughter, comparing her daughter to herself.

            Another interesting detail that is given more weight once the reader knows that Mrs. Ansley was going to meet up with Delphin is the constant detail of the sunset. Mrs. Ansley was to meet Delphin at sunset at the Colosseum, even though Mrs. Ansley at first denied the knowledge that people met up at the Colosseum at night, obviously trying to hide her shame from Mrs. Slade (page 209).  Of course Mrs. Slade knew this since she wrote the letter; she says, to Mrs. Ansley on page 208, “The sun’s set. You’re not afraid, my dear.” Of course she is referring to being afraid of rejection by Delphin, whom she thought didn’t know anything about the letter. The first time through, the reader thinks that Mrs. Ansley would be afraid of getting sick again. She also mentioned that she was afraid of Mrs. Ansley’s sickness the winter that she was engaged to Delphin; obviously not what she was actually afraid of.

            As the question mentioned on page 210, there are a lot of details of the story that become more important and have more reason for their inclusion once the outcome is known. Mrs. Slade was basically hinting at her distaste for Mrs. Ansley’s act the whole time, which isn’t known until the very end.