Read the following passage from Edith Wharton’s 1934 short story "Roman Fever" carefully.
"Great Temple of Peace," Mrs. Slade echoed, and breathed a deep sigh. She shifted her position slightly in the low chair, bending forward so that her chin rested on her hand, her eyes still on the ruined Forum.
"How the light drafts over those columns!" she murmured.
"Yes," Mrs. Ansley agreed. She was a smaller woman, and less defined than her companion. She sat very still, her hands folded over a bag of bright colored wool. "It’s the most beautiful view in the world."
"It always will be, to me," Mrs. Slade rejoined. "And yet, you know, to girls of our age, it was different. We didn’t look at it as a view. We looked at it as a background. A backdrop for... well, for ourselves, and for what was going to happen to us."
Mrs. Ansley turned her head slightly. "Yes. I suppose so."
"And what did happen? Only that we both married and had children—and now we’re back here, looking at the view. It’s funny how little remains of all that we expected."
"Is it?" Mrs. Ansley’s voice was barely audible. She drew a long thread of crimson wool from her bag.
Mrs. Slade laughed. "My dear Grace, of course it is! Or perhaps it’s only that I’m more restless than you. You’ve always been so wonderfully quiet, so—so content with the background. Sometimes I envy you. And yet, when I think of all the things we thought would happen... the drama we expected..."
She broke off, her gaze wandering back to the ruins. It was true that she had always regarded Alida Ansley as a passive, almost transparent figure—a foil to her own vivid energy. As girls, Alida had been the quiet one, the one who stayed in the shadow while she, Alida, had occupied the center of the stage. Even their marriages seemed to reflect this dynamic. Mrs. Slade had married Delphin Slade, the famous corporation lawyer, and lived a life of brilliant social triumphs; Mrs. Ansley had married well, but quietly, and had slipped early into a dim widowhood. Yet now, looking at her friend in the shifting Roman light, Mrs. Slade felt a sudden, inexplicable prick of doubt. There was something in Alida's silence, in the deliberate movement of her needles, that seemed to challenge Mrs. Slade’s long-held narrative of superiority.
A student analyzing the passage wishes to write an essay arguing that Mrs. Slade's sense of superiority is threatened by Mrs. Ansley's quiet independence. Which of the following statements represents the most defensible thesis for this essay?
- AMrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley sit on a terrace overlooking the Roman Forum and discuss their past marriages, their children, and how their expectations have changed over time.
- BThe physical ruins of the Roman Forum create a beautiful backdrop that makes the two women feel nostalgic about their youth and the passage of time.
- Although Mrs. Slade outwardly projects a narrative of social superiority based on her past successes, her sudden, internal doubt reveals how Mrs. Ansley’s quiet presence challenges this superficial self-concept.Answer
- DMrs. Slade’s aggressive dialogue and Mrs. Ansley’s sudden confession of an affair show that female friendships in the twentieth century were ultimately destructive and fragile.
- EBecause Mrs. Slade is a more dynamic and successful individual than the passive and quiet Mrs. Ansley, she is naturally suited to dominate their conversation and relationship.